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Retired Commodore Rex Robles was one of the ringleaders of the failed RAM plot to stage a coup against Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986. He came from the Navy and was known to be the political strategist of RAM or Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (formerly Reform the Armed Forces Movement).

RAM was organized the year before martial law was declared in 1972. Originally, it was a movement that sought to reform the corruption-ridden Armed Forces. However, RAM started to intrude into government affairs when it supposedly thought that the government was bungling its job and abusing its powers.

Together with Robles, the movement was led by charismatic leaders like Lt. Cols. Gringo Honasan, Victor Batac and Eduardo Kapunan, all of them from the Class of ’71 of the Philippine Military Academy. In the year following EDSA 1986, Robles continued to work for RAM in helping stage coup attempts to topple the Aquino administration.

On a more ironic note, Robles became a member of the Feliciano commission, the independent fact finding commission that investigated the Oakwood military mutiny in 2003, an uprising that involved younger officers—around 300 armed soldiers—who were led by Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, among others. Robles’ comrade in RAM, Senator Gregorio Honasan, was implicated in this mutiny.

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