Marcos Begins His Campaign : Foes Doubt Vote Legality if He Does Not Resign

Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos plunged into campaigning Monday, hours after his surprise call for a presidential election, but opposition politicians and legal experts quickly cast doubt on whether Marcos can legally stage an early vote without first resigning the presidency.

Government television, reporting Marcos’ barnstorming activities in typhoon-devastated central Luzon, said the balloting will take place Jan. 17.

“We need the snap election to convince the world that our program is supported by the people,” Marcos told 8,000 farmers in Tarlac, the home province of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., who was the president’s most prominent critic until he was assassinated in August, 1983.

The opposition’s National Unification Committee, representing a dozen parties, met in emergency session here to discuss the mechanics for choosing a common standard bearer. The two most frequently mentioned candidates are Aquino’s widow, Corazon, and former Sen. Salvador Laurel.

However, politics gave way to legal considerations as politicians and lawyers debated whether Marcos could stage the vote more than a year before it is scheduled while still remaining in office. The constitution permits a special presidential election only to fill a vacancy.

Some analysts said that Marcos might be offering the early vote to answer opposition critics, while reserving the option to say that the law prohibits it.

Deputy Prime Minister Jose E. Rono said constitutional experts will attend a scheduled caucus of the president’s New Society Party, or KBL, this week to advise the politicians on the constitutional issues.

The United States reacted skeptically to Marcos’ call for early elections. The State Department warned that any vote must be held “according to established constitutional processes”--suggesting that Marcos might have to step down from office or postpone the January vote.

Department spokesman Charles Redman said: “If elections are to re-establish confidence, as President Marcos has stated, then it is essential that they be credible to the Philippine people.”

Four U.S. Conditions

He said the U.S. posed four conditions for a fair ballot: a new election law, an impartial election commission, an independent citizens’ monitoring commission, and that “the Philippine military conduct itself in a professional manner during such elections.”

Laurel, who was in Washington to lobby Congress and Administration officials on U.S. Philippine policy, welcomed Marcos’ election call but warned that Filipinos will react violently if the contest is rigged.

“If the elections are not free and fair it will exacerbate things,” said the former legislator, who has already been designated as the candidate of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (Unido). “It will be the last election ever held in our country and the radicalization of our people will be complete. The Philippines will become another Vietnam or Nicaragua.”

Marcos, in his tour of towns in Luzon, said he opposes opposition demands that the presidential election he has promised be scheduled to coincide with local voting. The local balloting for governors and municipal officials is scheduled next May, and the presidential elections for May, 1987.

The president said he does not want the issues in a presidential election obscured by other personalities and issues on a combined ballot. “Those issues (raised by the opposition) are against Marcos,” the president said, typically referring to himself in the third person. “I hope they (the opposition parties) are unified so they have no excuse for losing the election.”

Marcos, 68, looking fitter than in recent appearances, seemed to be on the campaign trail, promising Luzon rice farmers whose crops had been damaged by recent typhoons that the government will increase its price for rice (it buys about 10% of the total) and begin a number of relief programs.

Marcos’ election statement was made in an interview Sunday on the ABC-TV show “This Week With David Brinkley,” in response to a question about whether scandals and mismanagement had cost him his mandate.

Marcos, who has spent 20 years in office, was elected to a six-year term in 1981 in an election boycotted by the opposition.

The interview was broadcast live from Malacanang, the presidential palace, at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Philippine time. But the Manila press had been alerted late Sunday afternoon to set aside space in the Monday morning editions for an important statement by Marcos.

Early Monday, the opposition was raising questions about the legality of the move.

Constitutional Provisions

The Philippine constitution provides for special elections in the event of the death of a president, or his permanent disability, removal from office or resignation.

When Marcos previously raised the possibility of snap elections, legal experts and opposition politicians said he would have to resign to run--at least temporarily forsaking the enormous powers of the incumbent here.

In declaring Sunday that he is prepared to call an early vote, Marcos suggested that an addition to the law will be required.

It would provide that: “If . . . there are fundamental issues which may raise any instability in government or prevent the proper functioning of any of its institutions, and the president in his judgment feels that (this) must be immediately submitted to the people for decision, the president may call a referendum, plebiscite or special elections for president and vice president, or only for president . . . during which period he shall continue performing the functions, powers and duties of president to prevent a hiatus in government.”

He could order the new provision under the extraordinary powers he holds under the constitution’s controversial Article 6, which essentially allows him to decree law at times of “grave emergency or a threat or imminence thereof.”

The Philippine leader said the constitution already gives him the right to issue a similar decree that would dissolve Parliament for a plebiscite on fundamental issues. Marcos said he will seek approval--and predicted he will get it--from the caucus of his party.

However, at least one ruling party politician, former Foreign Minister Arturo Tolentino, said he has doubts about the legality of the procedure. Skeptics suggested that Tolentino, by voicing his opinion, is setting the stage for a possible reversal on constitutional grounds, one that would permit Marcos to say that he has at least tried to meet opposition calls for early presidential elections.

Speaking to reporters after the ABC interview, the president indicated that the election would be for president only, not for vice president, leaving confused the question of succession, should Marcos die or become incapacitated during a new six-year term. U.S. sources have said that Marcos, whose health has deteriorated in recent years, suffers from a form of lupus.

Meanwhile, the splintered opposition was faced with the prospect of settling on a single candidate on short notice. Marcos said anyone could run, but opposition leaders have said they can only defeat KBL’s organization and presidential powers with a single slate.