Manila Drops Charge Against Political Foe

The government dropped subversion charges against opposition politician Jovito Salonga today, four days before his planned return from nearly four years of voluntary exile in the United States.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos ordered a review of the 4-year-old charges against Salonga on Tuesday, saying he wanted to enable Salonga, often mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, “to pursue his political aspirations to the fullest.”

Opposition leaders have said they feared Salonga would be arrested or assassinated upon his arrival next Monday--in the same way that opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. was slain upon his return from exile in August, 1983.

(Salonga, who had been living in Encino, Calif., was in Honolulu today with his family. He said he would fly to Hong Kong Saturday to meet with other opposition leaders and continue on to Manila.)

“On instructions of the president, we have reviewed the evidence (against Salonga),” Justice Minister Estelito Mendoza told state prosecutor Sergio Apostol in a memorandum today. “You are hereby directed to move to dismiss the case against him,” the order said.

Salonga was never brought to trial because the judge who was conducting the pretrial investigation allowed him in March, 1981, to go to the United States for medical treatment. Salonga, 62, did not return.

He heads a faction of the opposition Liberal Party and has said he is returning to help the opposition prepare for next year’s local elections and the 1987 presidential election.