by Dale Brown
“I am First Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines, Daniel Francisco Teguina. Admiral Yin Po L’un, I welcome you to Palawan.” The First Vice President! Yin exclaimed to himself. Well, things were getting very interesting-if he was who he claimed. “So. Am I to be your prisoner, Comrade Vice President?”
“No, ” Teguina replied, struggling through Yin’s sentence and struggling to compose a reply. “You are my guest and are to be welcomed.”
“As a conquering hero?” Teguina made a sideways glance at the receding wall of people around the bed-none were within hearing range, and probably did not understand Chinese in any case-then at di Silva, and then back at Yin. “If you have the strength, Admiral, we will speak of it, ” Teguina replied. “I will speak of nothing until I am reunited with my officers and receive report from them on the status of the men under my command, ” Yin said. His words were obviously too much for Teguina, who shook his head, and Yin motioned for Tran to translate. “You will have what you wish, Admiral Yin, ” Teguina said. He smiled evenly. “Then, we will speak of the future of the Philippines-and of our future.” JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CONFERENCE CENTER, THE PENTAGON WEDNESDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 1994, 0730 HOURS LOCAL eral Wilbur Curtis and the other Joint Chiefs of Staff ~ wenere seated around the triangular table in their Pentagon conference room, the Tank, listening to Navy Captain Rebecca Rodgers give her morning briefing. Since the nuclear device had been detonated, things had still not cleared up. If anything, save for the fact that no other devices had gone off, the situation was worse. “The Chinese government continues to deny any knowledge or claim any responsibility for the nuclear blast, ” Rodgers 1 told the assembly. “The official announcement from Beijing stated that People’s Liberation Army Navy Forces came under sustained and unprovoked attack by Philippine naval and air forces, and that an F-4E attacked their flagship in the vicinity of ground zero before the blast. They claim that the attack was a retaliation by President Mikaso for the patrol action against the so-called illegal oil-drilling platform in the Spratly Island neutral zone. The Premier denies that Chinese warships carry nuclear devices, but they do point to the presence of nuclear weapons at several former American bases in the Philippines…”
“That’s bull, ” General Falmouth of the Air Force retorted. “We took all special weapons out of the Philippines years ago. “I know, Bill, I know, ” Curtis said. “We’ve got inspection records from the United Nations and from the Soviet START Treaty inspection teams to verify it-the President will authorize disclosure of those inspection reports soon. Let Captain Rodgers finish.” Captain Rodgers continued. “ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations-the Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and most recently Vietnam, who are, in effect, a counter-Chinese economic and military coalition-have not made a comment on the disaster. But they are meeting tomorrow in Singapore in emergency session to discuss the issue.” While the Joint Chiefs weren’t surprised at China’s denial of launching the warhead, they were surprised how readily others in power, namely the President and his advisers, were willing-for the time being-to accept it. Whatever was going on, and whoever was behind it, one thing Curtis knew without a doubt was that the situation was going to escalate. In fact, it seemed to have already . Captain Rodgers, standing at the end of the triangle behind the podium, kept going. She informed the Joint Chiefs that in accordance with the 1991 START Treaty, the Soviet Union had activated six mobile ICBM battalions in Central Asia, a response to the United States’ DEFCON Three status. Along the Chinese and Mongolia borders, the Soviet Union had activated four missile battalions, equaling forty missiles, and were generating nuclear-capable forces at four bomber bases in south-central Russia. Although eleven hundred other known main, reserve, dispersal, rail-mobile ICBM, and crosscountry road-mobile ICBM sites were under manual or satellite surveillance, it didn’t appear that the USSR was gearing up for a major counteroffensive-at least with long-range nuclear forces. Rodgers switched to an enlarged chart of the mainland of China. “The source of continuing tensions in the past forty-eight hours continues to be the buildup of Chinese tactical forces in deployments along the Mongolian and Soviet border, ” Rodgers said. “This is being done, according to the Chinese, as a response to the Soviet buildup.” General Curtis and the others listened as Captain Rodgers rattled off the Chinese deployment numbers: nineteen total active divisions, four reserve divisions, four hundred thousand troops along a two-thousand-mile front in the north and northcentral provinces. The units included twenty-one infantry divisions, seven mechanized divisions, one heavy missile division, four air defense divisions . There was an uneasy rustle among the Joint Chiefs. Captain Rodgers was talking about a force that was almost as large as America’s and the Soviet Union’s combined. General Curtis was shaking his head. Thirty-three divisions-over one-half of China’s ground forces and one-third of their total military, and what had the President of the United States given him? Two aircraft carrier groups and the STRATFOR. Worse, the President later cut Curtis and the Joint Chiefs out of the loop by insisting that Admiral Stoval, the Commander in Chief of Pacific Command, who was responsible for the carrier task force moving to the South China Sea, report to Thomas Preston, the Defense Secretary, through the National Security Council. That left Curtis not only seething, but in a rather embarrassing position with the other Joint Chiefs, who knew what the President had done. Rodgers switched her electronic screen to a zoomed-in view of the South China Sea region. Specifically, the Spratly Island chain. “The Chinese are moving half their fleet into the area, Curtis observed with some alarm. The other Joint Chiefs murmured in agreement. Captain, I want to know what ships they’re moving in there and why. I also want a letter from State spelling out precisely what the Philippine government has authorized the Chinese Army Navy to do. This makes me pretty damned uneasy. “Well, it should, ” Chief of Naval Operations Randolph Cunningham grumbled. “We don’t have diddly in the area and the damn Chinese know it. They set off a nuke, then rush in and claim it’s a major threat to their sovereignty. They’re taking over the South China Sea faster than you can blink-and we’re just sitting here. This is bullshit.” It certainly was, but what could Curtis do? He answered his own question thirty minutes later, after the briefing, when he got back to his office. His aide, Colonel Wyatt, entered and said, “Sir, you have a scrambled phone call from CINCSAC-General Tyler. He says it’s a conference call.” “Conference call? With who?”
“General Brad Elliott and a Doctor Jon Masters . Elliott? A smile came across Curtis’ face. He took a sip of the coffee Wyatt had just brought in. He hadn’t seen Elliott in months, even though he was one of his favorites. Elliott had had some up and down times-first as Deputy Commander of SAC, then as Director of HAWC, then as head of the government s Border Security, only to be fired and bounced back to HAWC, again. And Masters?. . . Of Sky Masters, Inc.? The NIRTSats? Curtis took the phone call. After pleasantries were exchanged all around, Elliott and Tyler got right to the point: “General Curtis, we need clearance on something we think we’re going to need down in the Philippines.” Curtis’ ears picked up. “Go on. “We want to deploy the NIRTSat recon system that Doctor Masters has built, with a few of my Megafortress escort bombers that are out at the Strategic Warfare Center. We also want some on a few of the RC- 1355 that’ll be deployed for STRATFOR. We need your blessing, though.” Curtis thought about the briefing he’d just come out of. Two carriers in the face of a possible Chinese land-grab. The President had authorized STRATFOR into position on Guam. They’d have to be ready. “Doctor Masters, ” Curtis said, “you can really put that reconnaissance system on tactical aircraft?”
“You bet I can, General, ” Masters said over the pop of the scrambled line. “We can make the Megafortress the most high-tech flying machine this side of Star Trek.”
“Plus I’ve got a B-2 Black Knight bomber equipped the same way, except with even more surprises, ” Elliott said. “They’ve all been tearing up the Air Battle
Force in exercises out at Jarrel’s SWC, and if we have to go out against the Chinese in the Philippines, I think you’ll want them out there.” Curtis smiled. “Do it, you old warhorse. You just made my day.” THE PRESIDENT S RESIDENCE, MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES THURSDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 1994, 2212 HOURS LOCAL (28 SEPTEMBER, 0912 WASHINGTON TIME) Daniel Teguina was ushered into President Mikaso’s residence by a Philippine Presidential Guard, then left alone in front of the door to Mikaso’s office. Teguina straightened his tie and his shoulders, cleared his throat quietly, then knocked on the door. After receiving a curt “Come, ” he entered. Teguina paced before the small desk in the center of the room and stood impatiently as Mikaso continued to work on something. Everything in this room was small, understated, almost peasantlike-Mikaso kept this office spartan, with only a few native wall hangings, simple wood furnishings, and bookcases crammed with every type of book, written in several languages. It was here that Mikaso did his best work, as productive as a monk in solitude. Look at him, Teguina thought. An old man trying to act as if he is in control. Teguina wanted to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the scene. Since the nuclear explosion in the Palawan Strait there had been a panic throughout the islands. Here in Manila rioting had broken out, troops were in the streets trying to restore order, and the presidential palace had been besieged by protests from thousands of citizens and rebel troops-troops, he smiled inwardly, who were loyal to him. No, things were definitely not in control, no matter what this old man wanted to believe, and if Daniel Teguina had anything to do with it, they would continue to spin into chaos. “What is your report, Daniel?” Mikaso finally said. Teguina squinted at Mikaso, feeling anger flush into his temples. Mikaso was dressed in a brown suit, with a miniature Philippine Badge of Honor pinned to his lapel. Teguina knew that the sight of that badge on television made many Filipinos proud-it was the highest honor the military could pay to a civilian. Teguina had never even been considered for such an award. “I have nothing to report, ” he said lamely. “You have spent two days in Palawan, with almost no communication with my staff the entire time, ” Mikaso said. “Yet I see editorials and articles in the newspaper, condemning the United States and the military for releasing the nuclear weapon and praising the Republic of China’s navy for its relief efforts. I have been told nothing officially-communications are still disrupted in and out of Palawan. Do you have a report for me?”
“I was not aware that I was required to “I have learned that you have ordered New Armed Forces personnel in Puerto Princesa to surrender to the provincial police, and the airfields there and at Buenavista to be shut down, ” Mikaso interrupted. “I hear reports that say that Chinese patrol boats were seen in ports throughout Palawan, including Puerto Princesa, Buenavista, Teneguiban, and Araceli, and that Chinese vessels patrol the Cuyo West Pass and even the Mindoro Strait. I hear the screams in the streets outside, saying that you accuse me of being a traitor to our country. Are these reports true?”
“The Philippine Navy is severely crippled, sir, ” Teguina replied. “The Chinese patrol boats were graciously loaned to provincial police officers in an effort to restore order to the province-“
“Is the Army assisting the provincial police in restoring order?”
“No, Mr. President, ” Teguina sniffed. “According to my research and the reports I received, it was an American B43 bomb that exploded off the coast of Palawan; the experts I consulted said that the weapon was old and thankfully did not produce a full yield.” Teguina knew enough about nuclear bombs to know that it takes a smaller nuclear explosion to trigger the main explosion; this obscure factoid made the lie even easier. “The Chinese vessels were attacked without provocation by a Philippine Air Force F-4 fighter-bomber carrying this American nuclear weapon. The jet fighter crew, who was working for the American Central Intelligence Agency, de stroyed a Chinese ship, along with several Philippine ships, during the attack. “Because I am not sure as yet exactly who is responsible for the unprovoked attack on those Chinese vessels, 1 thought it best to turn all local police and military functions over to the provincial police and to curtail all military operations until an investigation is completed.”
“General di Silva is in command of the Palawan defense forces?” Mikaso asked. He registered surprise for a moment, then relaxed and studied Teguina. “I see, ” the aged President finally said. “So. Did you encounter resistance when you decided to occupy the Air Force base with provincial police officers and Chinese troops?” Teguina’s eyes widened in surprise when Mikaso mentioned using Chinese troops in his operation; then he realized his mistake in registering such a surprise. Mikaso had suspected all along-whether or not he got the information first hand or simply guessed, it was obvious he knew now. “The traitors put up a brief battle, but, as all cowards will, they turned and ran when confronted by legitimate forces, ” Teguina replied. “The Chinese troops supplied transportation to Puerto Princesa, that’s all, and they were forced to protect themselves as well as graciously protecting the provincial police units as well. We thanked God the rebels did not drop another nuclear bomb on us. “I have a simple question, Mr. Vice President, ” Mikaso said, a gleam of humor now shining in his eyes and a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Do you honestly expect the Philippine people to believe this fairy tale? That the Chinese were victims of Filipino aggression… the Chinese graciously offered the use of their warships . . . the Chinese only protected themselves when you overran Puerto Princesa? Do you honestly expect the world to believe that the Chinese suddenly became our staunch ally simply to fight off the evil, corrupt New Armed Force troops and install your own Communist puppet into power?”
“They will believe it, Mikaso, ” Teguina said slowly, “because . . . you will tell them.”
“Me? You expect me to betray my country, my homeland, just because of your threats and a Chinese rifle pointed at my head? Certainly you are joking, ” Mikaso scoffed. “This is the end of the American puppet regime in the Philippines, Mikaso “No, it is not. I know you, Daniel. I am not the tottering old fool, the white-haired, senile figurehead you always believed I was. I chose you to become my vice president because your flowery speeches and socialist ranting and raving has awakened the political fire in a lot of people that never cared much for national politics.”
“You would not have been elected if it were not for me!” Teguina snarled. “That’s right, Daniel, that’s right, ” Mikaso admitted. “And you will not succeed without me. I understand the importance of a coalition government, and I understand that there are factions in this country that desire change. I was willing to accept the opposition party in order to carry our nation forward into the future after the departure of the Americans. You can do the same. If you want change, Teguina, then have your National Democratic Front form its own coalition and defeat UNIDO. Have your party enact laws to give more funds to the people and less toward defense, if that’s what you propose. You are the Vice President. You carry considerable political power, more than your confused brain realizes. “But… if you enlist outsiders’ help to overthrow the legitimate government and close down the parliament, people all over the world will fear you, and your own people will condemn you. And if you continue to rob the treasury, install yourself in luxury in the presidential palace, and turn our nation into a battleground, you will eventually feel defeat. There is always someone around the corner with a bigger gun and a bigger army-” Teguina reached over, grabbed Mikaso by the lapels of his jacket, and said in a low, burning voice, “I don’t want your prostituted government anymore, old man.” He then pushed the President back into his seat and yelled, “Admiral! Enter!” Mikaso stared as a contingent of about fifty Chinese troops rushed into his office. Several Presidential Guard soldiers were led in, some carrying the dead bodies of other policemen or soldiers. Behind them all was a Chinese naval officer, about sixty years old, in white uniform slacks, dark helmet, a dark-blue jacket that appeared thick enough to be a bulletproof vest, and a sidearm. Beside the
military officer, to Mikaso’s complete surprise, was the ambassador from the People’s Republic of China, Dong Sen Kim, who averted his eyes and would not look at Mikaso directly. Along with the Chinese troops came several of Mikaso’s Cabinet officials, most of whom were National Democratic Front members-but they also included Eduardo Friscino, the Minister of Interior. “This is the new governor of the People’s Republic of the Sulu Islands, Eduardo Friscino, ” Teguina said to Mikaso. “He has seen your frail attempts to restore American dictatorship to the Philippines and has agreed to join with me to form a better nation, separate but equal, different yet fused together for the good of all.” Mikaso stared in disbelief at Friscino. “EduardoEduardo looked like a whipped dog. Standing in front of all those armed soldiers, he already seemed on the verge of collapse; now, under Mikaso’s incredulous glare, he seemed to practically wilt into the floorboards, but said nothing. “Because of the political and cultural separation that exists between the southern islands and the northern island, ” Teguina continued, “I have decided to create a new state, a federation of provinces that will be independent yet closely allied to the north. Luzon and the Sibuyan islands will be known as the Democratic Federation of Aguinaldo. It will be under my control, protected by loyal military forces as well as New People’s Army groups formed into provincial militias. “Palawan, Mindanao, and the Sulu Archipelago will be known collectively as the People’s Federation of the Sulu Islands, ” Teguina went on. “Once joined officially, Aguinaldo and the Sulu Federation will once again become the Democratic Republic of Aguinaldo.”