Coup Atlas Research Database
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84011292007AttemptedMilitary coup

Philippines, 2007 — military coup attempt

Philippines (PHL)Southeast Asia, AsiaNovember 29, 2007

Event Summary

On 29 November 2007 the Manila Peninsula siege unfolded in the Philippines, when Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier General Danilo Lim, on trial for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, dramatically walked out of their Makati courtroom, marched to the luxury Manila Peninsula hotel with armed supporters, and seized it, calling on the country to rise up and oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Trillanes, a former navy officer who had led the earlier Oakwood mutiny and been elected to the Senate from jail, and Lim, together with fellow Magdalo officers and the former vice president Teofisto Guingona, occupied the hotel and broadcast their grievances about corruption and electoral fraud, hoping to spark a new people power uprising. But few Filipinos heeded the call, and the military stayed loyal to Arroyo.

After a roughly six hour standoff, government forces rammed an armored personnel carrier through the hotel's glass lobby, and Trillanes and Lim surrendered to avoid bloodshed; they and journalists covering the event were arrested. The poorly supported revolt, dismissed by analysts as a publicity stunt, failed completely, and Arroyo, a serial survivor of coup plots, held power.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faced down the November 2007 Manila Peninsula siege by Trillanes and Lim
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (president of the Philippines, target)
Antonio Trillanes IV (senator and former mutineer, siege leader)
Danilo Lim (brigadier general, co leader)

Sources

The Manila Peninsula siege occurred on 29 November 2007, when Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Brigadier General Danilo Lim, and other Magdalo officers walked out of their Oakwood mutiny trial and seized the Manila Peninsula hotel, calling for Arroyo's ouster.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manila Peninsula siege open source ↗
They were joined by former vice president Teofisto Guingona, who called the gathering New EDSA.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manila Peninsula siege open source ↗
Government forces rammed an armored personnel carrier into the hotel lobby, and after a roughly six hour siege Trillanes and Lim surrendered and were arrested.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Manila Peninsula siege open source ↗
The siege ended with only one person reported injured, and few Filipinos went into the streets in response.
SOURCE REVIEWED Time, Another Philippines Coup Plot Fails open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match to the 29 November 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. Dataset codes it a military coup with leader unharmed, accurate for Arroyo. Well documented. Continues the Philippines run, after the April/May 2001 EDSA III record in batch 84; another Trillanes-Magdalo action after the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
84011292007

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faced down the November 2007 Manila Peninsula siege by Trillanes and Lim.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Calgary Herald

“Botched coup in Philippines ends with no casualties: [Final Edition],” November 30, 2007

The Australian

“Philippines troops storm hotel to thwart rebels: [T WA First Edition],” November 30, 2007

The Courier - Mail

“Troops storm hotel to quell coup bid: [6 Late City Edition],” November 30, 2007

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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