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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-7/december-coup.webp" alt="The December 1, 1989 coup on Aquino" />
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(US Marines on the deck of the USS Tuscaloosa while docked at Naval Station Subic Bay, December 1989)
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Although certain US reports indicate that Washington had signaled the availability of US forces to aid her besieged government, the official story is that at 11 a.m. on December 1, 1989 (Manila time), Aquino informed US Ambassador Nicholas Platt that she might require US air cover, since rebel forces had seized several airfields and were strafing the presidential Malacanang Palace. </p>
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An hour and a half later, Aquino officially requested such assistance. By 1:30 p.m., US F-4 Phantom bombers were providing air cover for Aquino, and placing an "aggressive cap" over the two Philippine air bases that had been taken by the rebels. 
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The U. S. declined Philippine requests to shoot at rebel forces, preferring to take defensive action only as required. Even so, there is little doubt - especially in the minds of her countrymen - that Aquino survived the coup bid only through the US show of force. 
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The US response to Aquino's request might usefully be contrasted to Washington's reactions to former President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986. When Marcos was confronted with a military rebellion led then General Fidel Ramos, Marcos was told that not only would the United States not support him, but any effort on his part to suppress the rebellion would result in the immediate suspension of all US military aid. 
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This was stated publicly in order to advance the military coup against Marcos.
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This US planned and orchestrated military coup - not the "People's Power revolution" - was the decisive factor in bringing Corazon Aquino to power. Even so, Aquino was able to portray herself as the alternative to the "US puppet President" Ferdinand Marcos. No more. Aquino has demonstrated that her political existence hangs on the thread of US support; her mandate was in Washington.
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The US air cover has also made a mockery of Aquino's refusal to commit herself to a new treaty for the US bases,  the existing bases treaty then was to expire in 1991.
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In early November, amid coup rumors, Aquino visited the United States for a seven-city tour to promote investment in the Philippines. The trip was not a success. During her state visit in Washington, tensions came to the fore over the bases issue. The Bush administration insisted on a pledge to the US bases.  Bush publicly menaced:
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"A new security agreement will preserve bipartisan support for ... continued economic and military aid."
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For her part, Aquino withheld her commitment and insisted on more funds to aid the islands' shattered economy.
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Aquino's reliance upon U. S. military support against a serious coup bid has substantially reduced Aquino's bargaining position, a fact near-sighted US officials have been chortling over. The increasing likelihood, however, was that either Aquino will not survive long enough to negotiate the bases; or that in order to maintain any popular credibility at all, she will have to refuse a new bases agreement. Bush's display of "decisiveness" carried a big backfire potential.
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Across the entire political spectrum, Aquino was being attacked for her subservience to the United States. This has been a longstanding battlecry of the left-wing "People's Power " component of her once-popular mandate.  The leftist Malaya newspaper on December 3, 1989,  railed: 
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"The cost (of US air support for Aquino) to the Philippines in terms of national honor cannot be redeemed." 
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Negotiations on the bases "will be practically toothless when George Bush calls in this big IOU."
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Attack were also coming from the Nacionalista Party, led by Aquino's own official Vice President Salvador Laurel and by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, the former defense minister under Marcos, who bolted to the Aquino side in February 1986. A Nacionalista Party statement declared that the "brazen" US military intervention:
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"... puts into question the constitutional legitimacy of the Aquino government for renouncing the country's sovereignty to a foreign government as the price for its continuance in power. "
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Enrile, who had also organized a new anti-bases coalition over the last month, told the press that the quelling of the coup was a "victory for America, not Aquino."
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Speaking from Hong Kong December 3, 1989, Salvador Laurel called upon Aquino to consider resigning if that were "the only way to avert bloodshed and civil war."
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<strong>Sources</strong>: 
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<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Corazon Aquino: U.S. puppet on a string, Linda de Hoyos, Volume 16, Number 50, December 15, 1989, Executive Intelligence Review
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Closer look at the December 1, 1989 coup attempt on Cory Aquino - The cost of US forces air cover