Marcos Calls Military ‘Red Alert’ on Eve of Election : Opponent Asks End to ‘Evil Rule’

President Ferdinand E. Marcos put the armed forces on “red alert” today, the eve of the special presidential election, and opposition candidate Corazon Aquino asked for an end to 20 years of “evil rule.”

Aquino, in an election eve statement, prayed to God: “Deliver us from this evil, this crisis which 20 years of evil rule has brought us.”

In an earlier interview on U.S. television, Marcos accused Aquino of saying his reelection could spark civil war.

Aquino, who also spoke on U.S. television early today, said her defeat would outrage many Filipinos and warned Marcos’ supporters against cheating. A spokesman for her campaign said opposition leaders were reporting irregularities, such as ballot boxes stuffed with votes for Marcos.

Election-Eve Discounts

Bags of rice clearly marked “Gift From the President” in bold red letters were passed out in a Manila suburb today. An official called the 110-pound offerings late Christmas presents, but an election commissioner said it was a bribe.

Pro-Marcos newspapers ran full-page announcements that said the government food market was offering big discounts on items ranging from ketchup to laundry soap on the eve of the election.

“Valentine Offering--Love Sale,” the notices read.

The campaign officially ended at midnight Wednesday. Philippine law prohibits electioneering afterward.

Hundreds of soldiers and police barricaded Marcos’ riverside Manila palace through this evening. He was to vote in his hometown of Batac, 250 miles north of Manila, while Aquino was to vote on her family’s sugar plantation in Tarlac province, 70 miles north of the capital.

An announcer on Philippine government radio said, “The armed forces are on red alert, starting at noon today. . . . This means that all military personnel will be on call for the next 24 hours. All leaves and furloughs are canceled.”

Unless extended, the 24-hour alert, the military’s highest level of preparedness, will end three hours before the polls close Friday.

Tough Warning

Although the Philippine military is customarily put on alert for elections, today’s announcement comes after a tough warning from Marcos that he will crack down on instigators of unrest. (Story on Page 5.)

An Aquino campaign spokesman, Raul Contreras, said alerts are customary for elections, but added: “Everything is ominous right now. The situation couldn’t get any worse that what it is already.”

Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, head of the Philippine Constabulary and deputy armed forces commander, said 81,000 members of the national police force and 5,400 soldiers will be deployed during the elections to keep order.

Marcos, 68, called the elections more than a year early under pressure from critics at home and in the United States to show that he still has popular support despite growing anti-government protests after 20 years of rule.

Polls Open to Observers

On Marcos’ invitation, the United States has sent a 20-member team of poll watchers. The team’s co-leader, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), said the Philippine government agreed today to let the Americans into polling places, something it earlier said would not be permitted.

But foreign poll watchers have conceded that they can cover only a small fraction of the Nevada-size nation’s 90,000 polling places, scattered across more than 7,000 islands, and say they have already heard unsubstantiated reports of irregularities.

Election officials say about 26 million voters are registered and estimate that 90% will cast ballots. Owing to time differences, first results of the voting should be available in the United States early Friday.