Filipino Urges U.S. to Reduce Support for Marcos

Philippine opposition leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Wednesday urged the Reagan Administration to reduce its political and economic support for the government of President Ferdinand E. Marcos--and thus give the opposition a chance to win power.

“We would like the United States to lay off the Philippines,” said Pimentel, a former vice presidential running mate of assassinated opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. “We in the opposition are not asking Uncle Sam to fight the dictatorship--but when he is backing the dictatorship, the task becomes doubly difficult.”

He called for reduced U.S. military aid to the Marcos government and suggested that U.S. economic aid be channeled through private organizations instead of government agencies.

Pimentel, one of 11 candidates an opposition coordinating committee is considering supporting for president, said he has appointments to meet State Department and National Security Council officials during the Washington segment of a two-month speaking tour of the United States. However, his comments during a breakfast meeting with reporters left little doubt that he will have a difficult time selling his program to the Administration.

If the opposition takes power, Pimentel said, it will immediately legalize the Communist Party and invite it to participate in the governmental process, turning an armed insurgency into just another political movement. And he said the opposition would require the United States to close its strategic air and naval bases when the present contracts end in four years.

“Mainly it is a propaganda war that the Communists have been waging that has attracted a large following,” he said. “If we have a new leadership that can dialogue with them, we will undermine the support that they now enjoy.”

He said large segments of the public support the Communists only because they seem to be the only viable alternative to Marcos.

In answer to a question, he conceded that historical precedents for co-opting Communists into a democratic government are not encouraging. He said, though, that he is confident the Philippine opposition can pull it off.

“The Communist Party is legalized here (the United States), it is legalized in Japan. . . . Why can’t we legalize the Communist Party?” he asked.

The Communist New People’s Army, with an estimated 10,000 to 11,000 troops, is causing increasing concern among Asia experts in the U.S. government. Assistant Secretary of State Paul D. Wolfowitz and Assistant Defense Secretary Richard L. Armitage, for example, recently visited the Philippines on separate but clearly coordinated trips.

Officials in both the State and Defense departments said last week that the Administration is urging the Marcos government to step up its counterinsurgency efforts and to spend more of its U.S. military aid on rifles, bullets, uniforms and field rations instead of high-prestige items like jet aircraft, which are ineffective against guerrillas.

Pimentel shrugged off the insurgency and said renewed concern about the guerrillas is just a ploy to increase military aid. He said the New People’s Army has no chance of taking power by force for at least five years.