Thousands Hold Anti-Marcos Protests Before Launching of Philippine Presidential Race

Thousands of demonstrators marched on Malacanang Palace and burned effigies of President Reagan and Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Tuesday on the eve of the official kickoff of the presidential campaign.

Marcos will be nominated today by his ruling KBL Party for a new six-year term, setting up a three-way race in the Feb. 7 presidential election.

Barring an unexpected last-minute reconciliation, his opponents will be Corazon Aquino, 52, and Salvador Laurel, 57, whose efforts to present a unified opposition ticket collapsed Sunday. Several minor party candidates will also be on the ballot.

Aquino, widow of assassinated opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., is scheduled to file her candidacy this afternoon. Laurel filed Monday.

About 27,000 demonstrators rallied here and in three other cities on Human Rights Day, to protest the coming election and the recent acquittal of Gen. Fabian C. Ver in the 1983 Aquino assassination. Many waved red flags and chanted slogans praising the insurgent Communist New People’s Army.

United Press International reported that one person was shot and killed in the town of Iloilo, on the central island of Negros, in an incident related to protests in the city.

5,000 March in Manila

Here in the capital, about 5,000 students and workers marched to the presidential palace, where they were stopped by layers of barbed-wire barricades and about 1,000 marines and riot policemen. Several protesters attached Styrofoam effigies of Reagan and Marcos to the barbed-wire fences and set them ablaze, along with three coffins symbolizing what they called “the death of democracy” in the Philippines.

Demonstrators also scrawled “Revolution, Not Elections” on walls and carried banners saying, “Ver Out, Marcos Resign” and “Boycott Sham Snap Election.”

The biggest protest was reported in Bacolod City on Negros, where about 20,000 people rallied and public transportation was disrupted. Demonstrations were also held in Legaspi, 215 miles southeast of the capital, and in Lucena, 60 miles south.

The Manila Hotel, site of the KBL nominating convention, was decked Tuesday with placards and banners of the Marcos campaign. “Marcos, Now More Than Ever,” declared a billboard on the street outside. Nearby, a blimp-shaped balloon floated on a tether, bearing the name of the man who has ruled this country for 20 years, nearly half of that time under martial law.

Attention to No. 2

With the presidential candidates seemingly settled, attention turned to the vice presidential choices, none yet revealed.

In an interview Monday with a Japanese television network, Marcos, 68, said Arturo Tolentino was one of his candidates. Tolentino, an independent-minded member of Parliament, could give credibility to the KBL ticket. He was sacked as foreign minister early this year for criticizing some of the president’s foreign service appointments.

Marcos will make his choice known today, Deputy Prime Minister Jose A. Rono said Tuesday. Other KBL possibilities include Rono, Prime Minister Cesar E.A. Virata, Labor Minister Blas Ople and, as a long shot, Eduardo Cojuangco, a businessman criticized by the opposition as the president’s foremost crony.

Marcos said his wife, Imelda, was not on the list. “She is not in it,” he declared.

It was not clear when Aquino and Laurel would name their vice presidential choices. The deadline is Saturday.

Prospective Candidates

Prospects from Aquino’s newly formed Laban ng Bayan Party include former Sen. Jovito Salonga and members of Parliament Aquilino Pimentel and Ramon Mitra. Laurel’s United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) party is reportedly centering on former Sen. Rene Espina, Minnie Osmena Stuart and Judy Araneta Roxas.

Another vice presidential possibility is Eva Estrada Kalaw. Kalaw, an influential former senator, has not declared which side of the divided opposition she favors, but she has made it clear she is interested in the vice presidency.

While the parties are required to make known their nominees for president and vice president by Saturday, the tickets filed on that date will not necessarily be those on the Feb. 7 ballot.

According to the commission on elections, any party candidate who withdraws, dies or is disqualified can be replaced by a substitute. And the substitute can file any time before noon election day.

Rules Allow Uncertainty

The election rules allow uncertainty and could permit a unified opposition ticket at a later date or a change in the KBL vice presidential nominee. This last possibility has led to opposition speculation that Imelda Marcos may yet join her husband on the ticket or, according to a scenario put forward by Laurel, replace Marcos.