World Notes THE PHILIPPINES

When mutineers led by renegade Colonel Alexander Noble overran three military garrisons in the southern island of Mindanao last week with barely a shot fired, observers 500 miles away in Manila feared that a slow-motion coup attempt was under way. According to that scenario, long touted by the military underground, sympathetic "bloodless" revolts would spring up in Luzon and elsewhere in the country, eventually inducing soldiers in and around Manila -- the fence-sitters of previous uprisings -- to side with the rebels simply by refusing to obey orders from generals loyal to President Corazon Aquino.

For once, Aquino acted swiftly. Instead of attempting to stall Noble with negotiations -- standard procedure in almost all previous uprisings -- armed forces Chief of Staff General Renato de Villa ordered air force overflights and bombings to level the main rebel encampment. Aquino brusquely dismissed the threat. "This is not a coup," she told reporters. "It is not spreading." Late last week De Villa declared the uprising a failure as the leader of the uprising surrendered. Asked about the loyalty of the rest of the military, De Villa said, "They will not readily join such a foolish adventure." But will they behave the next time?