Marcos Urged to Resign to Avert Communist Takeover

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday urged Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos to resign his post to clear the way for economic and political reforms needed to head off a Communist takeover.

“I’m hopeful that Marcos will step aside,” Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.) told a news conference after he made public a committee report that predicted Communist insurgents will bring down the Manila government within three years unless it makes fundamental changes.

“The question gets to be, who is going to lead that revolution? Is it going to have a democratic leader or a Communist leader?” Durenberger said. “There is not much time remaining to ensure that the leadership is democratic.”

He said the Marcos government faces a possible “disaster” unless it reforms the army, eliminates the economic privilege enjoyed by the president and his cronies and permits free and democratic elections.

Durenberger urged the United States to establish intelligence-gathering facilities elsewhere in the region that could replace those in the Philippines “post-disaster.”

Opposes Payment Cut

Nevertheless, he said he would oppose efforts in Congress to reduce U.S. payments to the Philippines, which the United States calls foreign aid but which Manila considers rent for the U.S. naval and air bases in the island nation.

“Those who want to beat up on Marcos are taking away his compensation for Subic (Bay Naval Base) and Clark (Air Base). I differ with that,” Durenberger said. “If he takes the position he is going to do something about democracy in the country, he will need that kind of assistance to help him do it.”

The committee staff report cited published accounts that Marcos suffers from severe kidney problems. The Philippine president reportedly has had two kidney transplants.

“Even if he were to recover his past vigor, conditions in the country will continue to deteriorate unless the regime undertakes serious political, economic and military reforms,” the report said. “We believe such change of course is very unlikely, and there is serious doubt whether the Marcos regime still has the administrative and political capability to initiate reforms even if it were so inclined.”

Grievances Exploited

The report said the Philippine Communist Party and its military wing, the New People’s Army, are growing rapidly because of “the Communists’ skillful exploitation of a growing catalogue of popular grievances against the Marcos regime.” It described the government’s handling of the insurgency as “inept.”

The staff said the New People’s Army, once closely aligned with China, developed without much help from the Soviet Union. However, it said, Moscow is becoming increasingly interested in the Philippines and is beginning to develop relations with the insurgents.

Nevertheless, the report said, the Soviet Union also is trying to “cover its bets by cultivating ties with the Marcos inner circle. . . . A number of reporters and editors from newspapers controlled by (Marcos’ brother-in-law) have visited the Soviet Union, where they have received VIP treatment. Not coincidentally, those papers have given Moscow increasingly favorable coverage in recent months.”