Laurel Files for Philippine Presidency : Marcos Hints Controversial General Will Quit Before Election

Former Sen. Salvador Laurel filed to run for president Monday despite pressure from backers who want a united opposition to Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the Feb. 7 election.

Marcos, meanwhile, hinted Monday night that Gen. Fabian C. Ver, the controversial armed forces chief acquitted last week of involvement in the assassination of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., would resign before the elections.

Marcos also announced that he has seven possible running mates for the election.

Laurel, head of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization, the largest of four major opposition parties, became the first major candidate to submit a certificate of candidacy to the government’s Commission on Elections.

Dispute Over Parties

His action came after talks on a joint ticket with Corazon Aquino, the other leading opposition candidate, collapsed Sunday in a dispute involving which party banner they should run under.

Laurel had said he was prepared to run as vice president but only under the UNIDO banner. Aquino, presidential standard bearer for the newly formed Laban ng Bayan (Fight and Country) coalition, sought a UNIDO-Laban banner.

Laurel said Monday that “the door is still open” for Aquino to run as his vice president.

But Aquino, whose husband, Marcos’ archrival, was assassinated in 1983 as he returned to Manila from self-exile in the United States, reiterated her appeal to Laurel to take the second spot on her ticket. Aides said she is expected to file her candidacy before the deadline on Wednesday.

Marcos, who called the early elections last month amid criticism of his handling of a Communist insurgency and an economic crisis, is expected to be officially proclaimed candidate of the ruling party at a convention Wednesday.

Threaten to Bolt

As Laurel filed his candidacy, leaders of six of the eight political parties affiliated with UNIDO threatened to bolt his coalition unless an agreement is reached between the former senator and Aquino.

“It will be a total disaster for UNIDO and a lonely battle for Laurel” if the opposition is split, one opposition member of Parliament said.

But Laurel told reporters that prospects are “still bright” for the opposition, predicting that Marcos will only get 20% of the vote.

Marcos, however, said “it was the other way around.”

In an interview with a Tokyo’s NHK-TV network, he also said that proper safeguards have been set up to ensure that the election will be fair and that American election observers in the former U.S. colony will be allowed, as long they do not “intervene.”

Bars Intervention

“Of course we can accept them (American observers),” he said. “But we cannot let them vote in our election, meaning they cannot intervene in the internal running of our country.”

Marcos also said that Ver, the nation’s only four-star general, may retire before the election. A presidential palace news release said that Ver wants to “finish his mission before he goes.” It did not say what the mission was, but Marcos put Ver in charge of military reorganization after Ver’s acquittal in the Aquino case.

The palace release said that Marcos, asked about a running mate, replied that there are seven candidates and the choice is still open.

The palace said Marcos named former Foreign Minister Arturo Tolentino, whom he fired last March, as “one of the top-ranking candidates” to share his ticket.

Tolentino, dismissed after attacking government policies, has said that Marcos must by law resign before the election and that he will not support him if he fails to do so.

Long-Vacant Post

The palace did not name the six others. There has not been a vice president or an official successor to the president in 16 years.

Marcos’ politically powerful wife, Imelda, is seen as another possible running mate. Both she and Marcos deny she will run.