January 5–7 – Eight mutinous policemen led by Pat. Rizal Alih take hostage Philippine Constabulary regional commander Brig. Gen. Eduardo Batalla, his aide, Col. Romeo Abendan, and five others in Camp Cawa-Cawa, Zamboanga City. The siege ends, Jan. 7, in an assault by government forces, destroying buildings in the PC Regional Command headquarters and leaving a general, colonel and 14 renegades dead. Alih escapes; would be arrested in Malaysia in 1994, extradited in 2006, and detained until his death in 2015.^[1]

March 31 – The famous alleged Marian apparition in Agoo, La Union to Judiel Nieva, a teenager who later become a transgender took place. It was said that the Blessed Virgin appeared on a guava tree, delivering messages and prophecies to Judiel. It became a highly sensational event for many Filipino Catholics as millions of pilgrims came to Agoo to see the phenomena like the "sun dancing", a statue of the Virgin Mary crying tears of blood, etc. The events in Agoo drew the attention of Catholic hierarchy in Rome, which conducted a thorough investigation on the events. In 1993, the events of Agoo apparitions are declared "non constat de supernaturalitate" (condemned) by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the judgment of Bishop Salvador L. Lazo of San Fernando diocese who was its Ordinary during the phenomena.
March 28 – Elections were held in the country's 42,000 barangays.

April 21 – U.S. Army Col. James Rowe is assassinated by the Communists in Quezon City; incident prompts the issue of removal of the U.S. military bases from the country.^[2] In 1991, the city Regional Trial Court would convict Donato Continente and Juanito Itaas in connection to the incident that also wounds the soldier's driver.^[3]

May 30 – A mining community in Mount Diwata, Monkayo, then part of Davao del Norte, collapses from heavy rain, resulting in the deaths of thousands, mostly miners, in what would be the worst disaster in the area.^[4]

June 30 – University of the Philippines President Jose V. Abueva and Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos signs the UP–DND accord that sets out a guideline for law enforcers in conducting their operations inside the university.

July 13 – A military tribunal acquits 23 soldiers who are charged with murder regarding the deaths of 17 civilians in a military encounter in Lupao, Nueva Ecija in 1987, asserting before that those slain were communist guerrillas.^[5]
July 28 – Satur Ocampo, leader of the National Democratic Front and chief rebel negotiator in peace talks, and his wife Carolina Malay, both former journalists, are arrested. They have been charged in court on July 24 for allegedly leading the execution of suspected military spies in Quezon.^[6]

August 1 – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is created through Republic Act No. 6734 also known as the Organic Act.
August 13–15 – A hostage crisis at the Davao Metropolitan District Command Center (Davao Metrodiscom) occurs, perpetrated by the group of inmates led by Felipe Pugoy and Mohammad Nazir Samparani which resulted to the death of five hostages and all 16 inmates.

September 20 – Lea Salonga begins her performance in Miss Saigon musical in London for leading role as Kim.
September 28 – Former President Ferdinand Marcos dies in an inter-organ failure at his hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[7]

November 19 – A plebiscite is held in the ARMM, resulting in the ratification of RA 6734 that established the region, with the inclusion of the provinces of Lanao del Sur (including Marawi City), Maguindanao del Norte (including Cotabato City), Maguindanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

December 1–9 – A coup d'état against the government of Philippine President Corazon Aquino is staged by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines belonging to the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and soldiers loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos led by Colonel Gregorio Honasan, General Edgardo Abenina, and retired General Jose Ma. Zumel.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Incumbents

Events