MANILA, Philippines -- Rebellious soldiers ignored President Corazon Aquino's orders to 'surrender or die' two days after they began their coup attempt, pounding the armed forces headquarters with mortar fire Sunday and fighting fierce battles in the capital's financial district.
The rebels launched their attack on the armed forces headquarters before dawn, and fighting later erupted for a second day in the Makati financial district amid reports that the mutineers had taken control of two hotels in the area. It was not clear if any hotel guests had been wounded.
Balls of fire visible for miles lit the night sky and the ground shuddered with the explosions hitting Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon City early Sunday. Residents in the area evacuated their homes after soldiers went from house to house urging residents to flee.
Philippine Air Force planes and helicopter gunships joined the battle at daybreak, rocketing and strafing rebel positions outside the camp. A rebel tank attempted to bulldoze its way through Gate 1 of Camp Aguinaldo but was destroyed by government soldiers. Seven wrecked vehicles littered the area.
'We're launching a very strong counterattack,' said Col. Juanito Rimando, a militaryspokesman. 'Our planes already are in the air.'
Ambulances began evacuating dozens of wounded government soldiers from inside the military headquarters. Radio reports said at least three soldiers had been killed and at least 40 had been hospitalized, and the Red Cross appealed for blood donations.
Combined reports from the Red Cross and hospitals put the death toll at 59 in two days of fighting. About 150 were wounded. The dead included three soldiers and a civilian who died when a government plane accidentally attacked a military truck.
Armed forces chief Gen. Renato de Villa declared his soldiers had repulsed the second major attack against Camp Aguinaldo in as many days.
'They cannot bring down this government,' de Villa said. 'I promise to the people. Do not worry. This government will not fall because of this coup.'
President Aquino attended mass Sunday morning and later addressed the nation by television, rejecting a truce offered by rebel leaders. 'There will be no cease-fire,' she said. 'What they started we shall finish.'
The fierce battle broke out shortly after midnight and was still raging hours later as the most serious challenge confronting Aquino entered its third straight day. Aquino survived six previous coup attempts.
The fighting early Sunday was the heaviest show of force between the two sides since the uprising began shortly after midnight Thursday. Radio news reports said volleys of mortar and artillery fire echoed from inside the camp and rebel positions outside in the Libis residential district and the Mormon Temple.
Shortly before midnight Saturday, gunfire erupted near luxury hotels in the Makati financial district, leaving two government soldiers dead and 12 others wounded, including popular police Maj. Romeo Maganto.
Police said rebel snipers were posted inside the Intercontinental Hotel and the Nikko Manila Garden Hotel. No one was answering telephones in the hotels and it was not immediately known if guests were hurt.
In a nationally televised address earlier, Aquino said she will not negotiate with the rebels.
'We leave them two choices: to surrender or die,' Aquino said.
On the second day of the mutiny, helicopter gunships and mortar fire failed to dislodge rebels from houses at the periphery of the armed forces headquarters.
Later in the afternoon scores of the mutineers roamed hotels, shopping malls, condominiums and office buildings in Makati. Rebel snipers were seen atop the 14-story Intercontinental but guests were free to move about.
In a radio interview, Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos said the rebels were taking hostages in the houses they occupied and were commandeering vehicles.
'When the rebels became terrorists and criminals, that is something that's maybe of a long duration in the sense that one by one, house by house, hotel by hotel, condomium by condominium will be the action there,' said Ramos, who helped lead the coup that put Aquino in power in February 1986.
'We cannot use total military force,' said Ramos, who has crushed six previous coup attempts for Aquino.
The mutiny began shortly after midnight Thursday when troops led by ex-army Col. Gregorio 'Gringo' Honasan took over Fort Bonifacio, Villamor Air Base, Sangley Point Naval Station, the Manila Airport and state television.
Honasan, 41, also led the bloody Aug. 28, 1987, coup that nearly toppled Aquino. He was jailed but escaped in April last year.
Rebel aircraft strafed the presidential palace and facilities in the capital Friday until Aquino asked President Bush for air cover. U.S. Phantom jets made symbolic flights over the palace Friday afternoon, swinging the tide of battle in Aquino's favor.
The rebels were driven from the facilities but small groups remained in parts of Fort Bonifacio army headquarters. Ramos confirmed Saturday that rebels had also occupied the Mactan air base in the central city of Cebu, site of the country's alternate international airport.
At midnight Friday, about 600 to 1,000 rebels proceeded to Camp Aguinaldo where fierce fighting raged Saturday.NEWLN: more
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Police reported unidentified men raided a police detachment in the fishing town of Navotas. Seven policemen were killed and three wounded but it was not known if it was connected with the mutiny.
In a statement purportedly from the rebels and read on radio station DZRH, the mutineers said they were willing to surrender if Aquino, her Cabinet, the House speaker and the Senate president resign and new elections are held.
'We may lose this particular battle again but unless the people running our government are changed soon, our struggle will never stop,' it said.
U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Platt announced that U.S. planes stopped providing air cover for loyalist troops Saturday morning at the request of the Philippine government.
He said U.S. Phantom jets flew protective missions Friday after Bush approved Aquino's request for them but did not fire a shot or drop any ordnance.
A rebel offier who identified himself as Lt. Pajarillo said in a radio interview the mutineers went to Makati because the government 'threatened to bomb us using American planes.'
'Where is their sense of patriotism?' he asked. 'Why did they ask the foreigners to kill their brother Filipinos?'
He claimed U.S. jets bombed Sangley Point, where four rebel aircraft and an ammunition dump were destroyed.
A United Press International correspondent joined about 300 rebels, most of them wearing slippers, holed up in three bungalows they had seized at White Plains.
The rebels wore belts of bullets across their bodies and were armed with M-14 rifles, mortars and bazookas and had moved from houses that had been destroyed by helicopter gunships. Armored personnel carriers were hidden in gardens and carports and were firing at government positions at Aguinaldo.
Asked about Aquino's remarks, a rebel Marine lieutenant cradling an M-60 light machine gun hiding at a grotto at a house at White Plains said, 'Our instruction is do or die.'
Also on Saturday all four television stations in the capital resumed transmission.
A statement purportedly from Honasan and released to news agencies slammed the use of U.S. fighter jets Friday. He said his forces have 'achieved victory' but were now faced with a 'powerful adversary, the U.S. government.'
