U.S. Lawmakers Warn of Cut in Aid if Marcos Vote Is Rigged

Members of Congress, including those serving on an official U.S. observer team, warned Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Monday that he risks a cut in U.S. aid if the election Friday appears to be rigged in his favor.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), who heads a 20-member delegation scheduled to depart today for the Philippines, told a news conference that most members of Congress do not share President Reagan’s apparent view that U.S. aid should continue at current levels in any event.

Instead of threatening to cut aid if the election is unfair, Reagan announced last week that he would propose a substantial increase “if the will of the Filipino people is expressed in an election that Filipinos accept as credible.”

Calls View Unusual

“The President’s is the more unusual sentiment,” said Lugar, adding that many members of Congress feel that “aid should be diminished . . . in the event of wholesale fraud and abuse.”

Lugar and members of his committee previously have expressed strong doubts that there will be a fair election. The senator has said the purpose of his mission is to help keep the fraud “to a dull roar.”

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a member of Lugar’s delegation and of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is prepared to propose an immediate cutoff of aid to the Philippines after the election, according to an aide. He said Kerry would not support continued aid unless the government also adopts a number of reforms.

Senate Support Cited

The aide noted that the Senate voted 89 to 8 last May 15 in favor of a resolution, authored by Kerry, to cut aid to the Philippines if the government fails to remedy a variety of alleged human rights abuses.

Mark Helmke, a spokesman for Lugar, said the senator may propose that some future U.S. economic aid to the Philippines be redirected through private groups instead of the government.

At the same time, Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) said he would not support further aid to Marcos unless the president sells off real estate holdings in the United States, valued at more than $350 million, and uses the proceeds to aid the sagging Philippine economy. Solarz, who is chairman of a House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific affairs, will travel to the Philippines independently of the Lugar delegation.

‘Crony Capitalism’

“Regardless of who wins the election Feb. 7, we should insist that conditions be placed on any additional assistance, that the system of crony capitalism and capital flight come to an end,” Solarz said.

Solarz said his subcommittee has uncovered “compelling evidence” of Marcos family holdings in the United States, even though Marcos has denied owning any real estate here.

Lugar, meanwhile, said that despite a law limiting the access of foreign observers to polling places in the Philippines, he expects his delegation to be able to travel freely.

He emphasized that his delegation will not be able to certify the outcome of the election.

“We are not in a position to know what happens at 91,000 polling places or 91,000 counting centers, to have any interpretation of allegations of vote buying or fraud that may have been occurring for days, for weeks prior to the election,” he said.