CIVIL WAR THREATENS PHILIPPINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150013-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: February 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150013-6
AN PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
24 February 1986
Civil W
Philippines
Opposition
to Marcos
rises on Hill
By Rita McWilliams
THE NMSHINOTON TIMES
Congressional opposition to Fili-
pino President Ferdinand Marcos
escalated yesterday as the Reagan
administration threatened to cut off
military aid to the Philippines.
On Capitol Hill, critics of the Mar-
cos regime called not only for an end
to the military aid - $55 million this
year - but for the resignation of Mr.
Marcos, and asked President Rea-
NEWS ANALYSIS
gan to make a personal request to
Mr. Marcos to step down.
Some lawmakers said the Marcos
regime has had almost no chance of
survival since Mr. Marcos was de-
clared the winner of a hotly con-
tested and highly suspect Feb. 7
election.
One of the things this adminis-
tration does very well is im lement
their policy o emocratic evolution
or revnintion as the rasa ay
Sen. David Durenberger chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Commit-
tee, said yesterday in calling for Mr
Marcos' resignation.
"I think this administration has
known all along that at some point in
time, the unique ability of Ronald
Reagan and his personal touch
would be a decisive factor in
bringing peace to (he Philippines;'
he said.
Sen. Richard Lugar, the Senate
Foreign Affairs Committee
chairman who led the U.S. team that
monitored the election, said the ad-
ministration should encourage the
Filipino leader to step down.
"President Marcos must come to
the same conclusion our president
arrived at ... that given an election
of fraudulent results, no legitimacy,
it's difficult to see how this regime
can continue;' Mr. Lugar said. "He'll
have to step down."
The two lawmakers echoed
themes that were prevalent yester--.
day on Capitol Hill: How can a free
society, the leader of the free world,
monitor an election, pronounce it
fraudulent, and support the regime
that perpetrated the fraud?
That question has been compli-
cated because Mr. Marcos is an avid
anti-communist who says he holds
the key to keeping U.S. military
bases, essential to the support of
non-communist nations, in the Phil-
ippines.
The Reagan administration, de-
spite the pressure from Congress to
immediately halt aid to the govern-
ment, had put off action until U.S.
special envoy Philip C. Habib, re-
turned to Washington yesterday.
But after consulting with Mr.
Habib, the White House announced
last night it would cut military aid if
it seems that the aid would be used
against the Filipino people.
It was unclear whether Mr. Mar-
cos would be given asylum in the
United States as troops loyal to Mr.
Marcos five miles from the pres-
idential palace began tear-gassing
anti-Marcos forces, according to re-
ports from Manila.
"The only ones who can possibly
benefit from massive bloodshed and
perhaps civil war are the commu-
nists, and the only way to prevent
bloodshed and possibly civil war at
the present time is for Mr. Marcos to
step aside;" said Rep. Stephen Solarz,
the New York Democrat who chairs
the House Foreign Affairs subcom-
mittee on Asian and Pacific affairs.
Mr. Solarz believes asylum for Mr.
Marcos should be given "only if he
is going to step aside without
plunging his country into a civil
war," a Solarz aide said last night in,
a telephone interview
But forces, such as Sen. Jesse'
Helms, North Carolina Republican.,
and others who voted against a Sen-
ate resolution condemning the Feb.
7 election, said Mr. Marcos should be .
given asylum because he has been
fighting communist forces that
helped opposition candidate
Corazon Aquino.
The House Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee, which was waiting for Mr.
Habib's return to vote on cutting off'
aid to the Marcos government, is ex-
pected to act quickly this week, and
the measure is expected to fly
through the House to the Senate,
where there is a chance that it may
be filibustered by conservatives.
Conservative forces in the House
have all but abandoned Mr. Marcos
because of reports of election fraud.
Even Rep. Gerald Solomon, the
New York Republican who has
avidly supported the Marcos govern-
ment as "a bastion against commu-
nism;' voted last week to cutoff fur-
ther aid to the regime.
The measure would place
military aid in a trust fund and chan-
nel economic and humanitarian aid
through charitable organizations
such as the Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Solarz, New York Democrat,
said support for Mr. Marcos in Wash-
ington is "somewhere between nil,
and negligible:'
Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, ranking
Democrat on the Armed Services
Committee, urged Mr. Reagan to of- '
fer asylum to Mr. Marcos only "if he
steps down peacefully and if he does
so immediately and if he does so
without bloodshed:'
Sen. Larry Pressler, South Dakota
Republican who serves on the For-
eign Relations Committee, pre-
dicted bloodshed whether Mr. Mar-.
cos stepped down or not. "What
comes after Marcos could be much
worse;' he said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150013-6