1989 Philippine Coup Attempt - Effects

Effects

Politically this coup was a disaster for Aquino. Her vice president, Salvador Laurel openly allied himself with the coup plotters and called for her to resign. Even Aquino's staunchest supporters saw her need for United States air support as a devastating sign of weakness. Most damaging of all, when the last rebels finally surrendered, they did so in a triumphant televised parade and with a promise from the government that they would be treated "humanely, justly, and fairly." One of the devastating results of this insurrection was that just when the economy had finally seemed to turn around, investors were frightened off, especially since much of the combat took place in the business haven of Makati. Tourism, a major foreign-exchange earner, came to a halt. Business leaders estimated that the mutiny cost the economy US$1.5 billion.

Again in 1990, there were other coup attempts between March and October. The Hotel Delfino siege happened on March 4, when suspended Cagayan governor Rodolfo Aguinaldo and his armed men of 200 seized the Hotel Delfino in Tuguegarao, Cagayan as a result of the previous failed coup against the president. Brigader General Oscar Florendo, his driver and four members of the civilian staff, and several other people who were made hostages led an another mutiny to end and later killed in a gunfight. Seven months later on October 4, the tenth and last coup attempt happened in an army base in Mindanao where Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 21 others mutinied for two days until they surrendered on October 6 as it failed.