Their first step was to increase RAM's visibility in public, and claim greater emphasis of their role in the People Power Revolution at the expense of Aquino and other civilian actors.

On November 13 the leader of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Rolando Olalia and his driver Leonor Alay-ay were abducted and later found brutally killed in Antipolo, Rizal.

In 2017, senior RAM leader Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Kapunan subsequently admitted ordering surveillance on Olalia before his murder, as well as on Labor Minister Sanchez.

[6][12] On November 15, Japanese businessman Nobuyuki Wakaoji, the head of the Manila branch of Mitsui, was abducted in Laguna and held until April 1987 when he was released in exchange for a $10 million ransom.

The National Bureau of Investigation suspected the kidnapping was orchestrated by RAM to embarrass Aquino during her state visit to Japan, which led Japanese investors to avoid the Philippines.

Kapunan held a press conference claiming that as an intelligence officer, he interviewed Ninoy's driver who said that he delayed his arrival at the senatorial rally that was bombed, insinuating his responsibility for the blast.

RAM's chief propagandist, Captain Rex Robles, leaked to the media a letter from army officer turned NPA defector Lieutenant Victor Corpus, in which he claimed to have witnessed the CPP leadership planning the attack, which prompted him to surrender to the government.

[8] On November 4, Enrile convened fellow co-conspirators at the home of Marine commander General Brigido Paredes, and unveiled their final plans for the coup, involving a commando raid on the presidential residence at Malacañang to capture Aquino and force her to "yield the powers of the presidency".

The remarks were seen as a provocation on Enrile,[15] who then raised the Philippine war flag over his office at the Ministry of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo, which was guarded by 800 soldiers and ten armored vehicles commanded by RAM leader Colonel Gringo Honasan.

This resulted in a standoff that lasted until November 11, when Enrile backed down from his plans following negotiations with Ramos and other officers loyal to Aquino, during which they reaffirmed their allegiance to the civilian government.

[8] On November 22, military intelligence found that Enrile and RAM leaders met with prominent Marcos loyalists at the home of Enrile's friend and former assemblyman Antonio Carag in Mandaluyong to finalize plans for a joint coup set on November 23, during which soldiers would converge on Manila while the dissolved Marcos-era legislature, the Regular Batasang Pambansa would reconvene and annul Aquino's election victory against Marcos in the snap election on February 7, 1986, effectively removing her from office and replacing her with former speaker Nicanor Yñiguez.

[7] The following day, Aquino announced she had sacked Enrile as Defense Minister, replacing him with Rafael Ileto[17]: 264  and that she would revamp her Cabinet, "to give the government a chance to start all over again.

Kapunan was sent to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio as an instructor, where he began to indoctrinate cadets in support of RAM's goals,[8] while Honasan was transferred to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, 200 kilometers north of Manila.

[7] Congressman Stephen Solarz, who had previously suggested that Enrile be removed from Aquino's cabinet before the coup, said that she had “won the hearts and minds of the American people.” Sam Nunn, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, commented that the AFP had to be reorganized and gain the people's confidence.