U.S. SENDS LAXALT TO TALK TO MARCOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940034-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: October 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940034-6
ARTU'LCA7P Rg
ON PAGE ~ 1
U.S. SENDS LAXALT
TO TALK TO MARCOS
I . By BERNARD WEINRAUB
Its" to 11 Now Yat Theo
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 - President
Reagan has sent Senator Paul Laxalt
the Philippines to discuss the worson.
ing military, political and economic
situation there, Administration oftl
cials said today.
Officials said Mr. Laxalt, one of Mr.
Reagan's closest friends, would prob.
ably meet President Ferdinand E.
Marcos in the next two days.
Officials said Mr. Laxalt, a conssr"H
tive Nevada Republican, was Calz
a message to Mr. Marcos from Preel-
dent Reagan. They declined to dWulga
details of the message but said Mr.
Reagan wanted to "express his caoa
cern" about the situation in the Philip. c~ while he is in~Manila.p mar-
Pines. Officials said they believed that Mr.
Potentially Major Crlais Sera Laxalt would spent four days in the
Philippines.
Privately, White House, State De- Mr. Laxalt is apparently Mr. Rea-
partment and Pentagon officials have San's first emissary sent specifically to
speak
viewed the Philippine situation as a President Ma. Officials
y
potential crisis for the United States. In aboard indicated that the e trip, apparently
aa military aircraft, was sup-
sending Mr. Laxalt to Manila, Mr. Rea- posed to have been secret.
gar took his most aggressive step so One element of Mr. Laxalt's mission,
far in putting Pressure on the Marcos officials indicated, was to discuss polit-
Government for changes that the ical changes. This would involve a fair
United States views as crucial to its presidential election and the develop-
stability. ment of an election process that would
The Laxalt trip comes at a poteo- be, according to one official, "clean
tially critical moment for United and open-
States-Philippine relations. The De-, Health of Marcos
tense Department plans to invest about In early August Mr. Marcos said he
$1.3 billion in Clark Air Base and Subic was seriously considering calling a
Ba naval station in the Philiypines de- presidential election this year, but
spite warnings United States intelli- later that month he appeared to drop
ence encies about increased plans for. a ballot in 1985. The next
munist gut a activity there. scheduled presidential election is in
recent senate report to Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said The health o the 68-year-old been n of
f
American military bases in the Philip- sand his succession,
concern u to o the the Reagan n have g Admin..
special pec
.
pines were poorly protected and vul- istration as the Communist insurgency
nerable to a terrorist attack. and the political instability in the
Officials said the basis for Mr. Rea- Philippines grow. Mr. Marcos appar-
gan's anxiety about the Philippines ently suffers from a degenerative kid-
was the growing Communist incur- ney disease, and his condition swings in
gents there and tears that the Phi- cycles. Lately he has appeared to be
lippine military was not meeting the physically strong.
challenge. They said the United States An additional Administration con.
.
was seeking an overhaul of the military that may be voiced by Mr. Laxalt,
~ officials said, is Mr. Mar arcosos' s insist-
and a curbing of corruption and favorit- ence that he will return Gen. Fabian C.
ism, which are hurting the campaign Ver, a close associate and cousin, to his
against the rebels. post as chief of the armed forces. Gen-
A second issue that especially can- eral Ver has been implicated by a citi-
cerns Mr. Reagan and the Admhnistra- zens' court in the killing of the opposi-
tion, officials said, is Mr. Marcos's re. tion leader Benign S. Aquino Jr. in
tusal so far to make economic changes, 1983.
to curb corruption.
NEW YORK TIMES
15 October 1985
Officials indicated that Mr. Laxalt' Administration officials believe that
would point out that two of the major : General Ver will be acquitted and are
monopolies, coconut and sugar, we, expressing concern that Mr. Marcos
controlled by friends of Mr. Marcos. will reappoint him to his former power-
Mr. Marcos's promise to reorganize ful position in the armed forces.
these industries is regarded as cos- As a result of the Aquino assassin.
metic and not as sweeping as the Ad- tion, President Reagan canceled a visit
ministration had sought., to the Philippines.
"Corruption has been carried to such The Declining Economy
a degree there that parts of the ecbn- In Presenting the President's mes-
omy don't function," an Administra- sage to Mr Marcos, Senator Laxalt
tion aide said. will tell the Philippine leader that the
The White House confirmed Mr. Lax- worsening political, economic and mili-
alt's trip after a report was published Lary situation was abetting today about it in The Washington monist rebellion and driving -
od r
Times. The White House declined to ates into the hands of extremistsoffi.
discuss details of the trip. cials said. i
'An Ally of Long Standing' Especially worrisome to American
Michael Guest, a spokesman, said, - officials is the declining economy,
"Senator Paul Laxalt is undertaking a which, they say, contributes to the dis-
visit to the Philippines, an ally of long.. illusion among the middle class and the
standing, at the personal request of the growth of the insurgency-
President.,, The Philippine economy, which
"He departed Washington Saturday shrank 5.5 percent last year, is er-
as a close personal friend of President' pected to contract by another percent-
use uecime, omcials said, was the per-
vasive corruption and the failure byi
Mr. Marcos to generate economic
changes.
Mr. Reagan has taken an active in-
terest in the Philippines. He said in an
interview last February that it would
be "a disaster for all of us" if the demo-
cratic process failed there.
The planned u din of Clark Air
Base an the u is a nave station
comes esp a conclusions by the Cen-
Bo agenC es qtly told the
House Intelligence and Armed serv-
ices ommittees, in secret rie ings.
that resent
were "really downw rd nd v No-
rive," Re resentative Dave McCurdy,
emocrat o ahoma, said last week
tense Intelligence en --that the
arcos ernment was imperiled by
the ' mmunist insurgency.
Approved For Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940034-6