MARCOS AND AQUINO TO APPEAR ON ‘NIGHTLINE’

Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his chief rival, Corazon C. Aquino, will discuss--but not face-to-face--their bid for their nation’s highest office on a special live appearance on ABC’s “Nightline” Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the presidential elections are held in the Philippines.

“It’s a discussion--not a debate,” emphasized “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel, who will be moderating the one-hour program in which Marcos and Aquino will be speaking from separate locations in Manila. They will be able to hear, but not see, each other.

Koppel said Monday that under ground rules agreed upon after nearly three weeks of negotiations by ABC, he will conduct one-on-one interviews with each candidate at the start and end of the program, with a question-and-answer session in between.

The two candidates never have debated, nor have they ever appeared together in public during their campaigns.

Their “Nightline” appearance, to be aired live at 11:30 p.m. EST in the East, but shown on a tape-delay basis on the West Coast, will be offered to Philippine television stations. But it is not known yet whether those stations will air it live, an ABC spokeswoman said.

Aquino has complained that her campaign has been virtually ignored by her country’s television stations.

An ABC source speculated that those stations--one is government-run, the others independent--may opt to tape ABC’s broadcast and make a decision afterwards on whether to air it before the polls close in the Philippines.

The format of Wednesday’s “Nightline,” Koppel said, “is almost exactly the same” as the one arranged last March in which the program brought together--but not in the same studio--South African President P. W. Botha and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

The program has conducted similar electronic meetings between bitter rivals who refuse to talk directly to each other, among them Israeli and Palestinian diplomats, ambassadors from Iran and Iraq, and, during the Falklands war, British and Argentinian officials.