MARCH 4, 1990: factions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines attempt to overthrow the government of President Corazon Aquino. It is the sixth coup attempt in four years. American airforce jets hover over Manila, an ominous demonstration to rebellious Filipino soldiers of the key role the US is playing in the future of the Philippines. At any moment, another coup attempt is expected from the right while the ongoing war with communist guerrillas continues on the left. Over the next two years, the American government has pledged 962 million dollars to the Philippines, a country perpetually on red alert. What has happened to Mrs. Aquino’s peaceful revolution? A troubled history helps explain.

For 19 years in the Philippines the underground guerrilla New People’s Army (NPA), together with the popular forces of the legal left, formed a vanguard of resistance against President Ferdinand Marcos. On February 5, 1986, a military revolt within the Armed Forces of the Philippines, backed by a popular uprising in the streets of Manila, cleared the way for Mrs. Corazon Aquino to come to power. Within days of assuming the presidency, Mrs. Aquino called for a ceasefire with the revolutionary New People’s Army. A year later it came into effect. After 60 days however, the ceasefire expired in a quagmire of technicalities. The left claimed the government was never prepared to discuss the basic issues behind the insurgency: the need for land reform, the ousting of US military bases, and the restructuring of the military and the economy. Mrs. Aquino’s negotiators, indignant over rebel demands, said the guerrillas wanted too much too soon. The ceasefire was over in to months, plunging the country back into a revolution from the left, and a morass of coup attempts from the right.

For the revolutionaries, it appeared the black and white days of organising a rebellion against a tyrannical dictator were gone. The left "movement’ faced instead the muted yellows of a Christian Democrat. But beneath the initial euphoria of the four day "snap" revolution, it appears the underlying economic and military system created by Marcos remains intact. The chances of effective land reform daily diminished as legislation wallows in a senate and congress made up of 90% large land owners. Worse, Mrs. Aquino’s forced marriage to the military which brought her to power, appears to have laid treacherous groundwork. With each coup attempt, rebellious factions of the military continue to make their bid for more power. Now, the president herself stands accused by human rights groups of having bargained away her "People Power" mandate to the military which has unleashed a powerful vigilante movement to augment its’ counterinsurgency campaign. Neighbours are encouraged to inform on neighbours. Filipinos are arming against Filipinos. The legal left is a key target. Human rights workers, labour organisers and activists from all sectors have been tagged as subversives by a rapidly growing anti-Communist movement which claims to have the military, God and democracy on its side.

The case of characters is set against the yellow triumph and contradictions of Mrs. Aquinos People Power. A RUSTLING OF LEAVES films the jubilant anniversary celebration of Cory’s February Revolution as festivities bring over two million Filipinos back into the streets to dance in a sea of yellow. There is however, the puzzling dark side of Mrs. Aquino’s presidency. A RUSTLING OF LEAVES documents the tragedy of the Mendiola massacre where 18 farmers were killed marching to the palace to demand land reform, and the president’s confusing endorsement of the vigilante groups which have brought back the terror of the Marcos era.