Marcos, Aquino Welcome Quiet Role of Habib

White House envoy Philip C. Habib met separately on Monday with President Ferdinand E. Marcos and opposition leader Corazon Aquino and won praise from both for not presenting a U.S. plan to solve the Philippine political crisis.

President Reagan sent Habib to Manila on what he said was a fact-finding mission, and the Philippine government and the opposition were both clearly surprised when it turned out to be just that.

Marcos, in a statement issued by the presidential palace, said Habib assured him that he “was not interested in any way in telling us how to run our affairs.”

Rene Saguisag, a spokesman for Aquino, told reporters: “He said he was just here to gather facts. He came here to listen.”

Earlier, spokesmen for both sides had expressed fear that Habib was sent to try to tip the balance of power between Marcos, now formally proclaimed president for a new six-year term, and Aquino, who claims she was cheated out of official victory in the Feb. 7 election by massive fraud.

Aquino aides were apprehensive that Habib would attempt to persuade Aquino to accept Marcos’ reelection in a vote marked by violence as well as fraud. Marcos partisans said they feared that the envoy might seek to push the president out of the palace that he has occupied for 20 years.

Habib said nothing of substance for the public record.

“You know me,” he told reporters in an anteroom of Marcos’ office. “You know what (Reagan) asked me to do. That’s it; there isn’t anything else to say. As I tell everybody: silent movies. . . . That’s the way we think will be most effective.”

‘Open Ended’ Stay

Habib said his stay in Manila is “open ended,” with no deadline for returning to Washington. Some U.S. officials have said he may stay 10 days or more.

So far, he has told Marcos about Reagan’s expressed concern over vote fraud, and he has sought to assure Aquino that Reagan’s initial statement appearing to dismiss reports of fraud did not represent U.S. policy.

Habib also met Monday with Cardinal Jaime Sin, primate of the Philippine Roman Catholic Church, and with Jose Concepcion, head of the National Movement for Free Elections, an independent poll-watching organization backed by the church. The group still showed Aquino ahead in its incomplete, unofficial tally of the vote 10 days after the election.

U.S. Embassy officials said that Habib will report to Reagan on what he believes the options are for U.S. policy in the Philippines. The officials said they did not know whether Habib would remain in the country if negotiations with Marcos or Aquino were called for.

Aid Halt Urged

A swelling chorus of Republicans and Democrats in Congress has asked that U.S. aid, an average of $180 million a year, be withheld from the government if Marcos insists on staying in power.

Only minutes before she met with Habib, Aquino issued the latest in a series of statements criticizing Reagan, a move that appeared to be intended at least in part to demonstrate her toughness as she met the U.S. envoy.

“Nobody should think that a two-party system is now in place because the winning party has been cheated of its landslide victory,” Aquino said, referring to Reagan’s remarks about the two-party system here. “My win over Marcos was by a bigger margin than President Reagan’s over either President Carter or (former Vice President Walter F.) Mondale.

“What is now at stake here is more than the removal of an impostor president. It is the future of democracy itself. . . . There was nothing healthy or democratic about the violence, intimidation, cheating and bribes by which Mr. Marcos sought to snatch victory.”

Disputed Ballots

Aquino’s campaign staff contends that if the election had been fair, she would have won at least 54% of the vote, and possibly as much as 65%. The official count, which included millions of disputed and allegedly bogus ballots, gave 54% of the votes to Marcos.

Aquino’s hourlong meeting with Habib, in a crowded conference room at her headquarters in Manila’s financial district, was “very friendly,” according to an aide who attended.

Teodoro Locsin Jr., a top Aquino adviser, said: “Habib made no demands. He spent most of the time listening. He appeared to take her thesis very seriously--that she has won and is not going to give up now.”

He said Aquino told Habib that she believes the only solution to the political impasse is “a swift and orderly transition to the Aquino presidency that the Filipino people had chosen overwhelmingly at the polls.” He said Aquino and Habib had agreed to meet again before the U.S. envoy leaves for home.

Aquino spokesman Saguisag said that Aquino also gave Habib “an earful” about perceived U.S. support for Marcos.

2-Hour Meeting

Habib’s meeting with Marcos, in the president’s wood-paneled private study in Malacanang Palace, lasted for two hours, almost twice as long as scheduled.

Afterward, Marcos’ office issued a statement saying Habib assured the president “that he was not here to render judgment on the conduct of the election, nor to make any suggestion on the running of Philippine internal affairs.”

Habib and Marcos met for roughly an hour, then were joined by acting Foreign Minister Pacifico Castro and U.S. Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth for another hour.

Habib gave Marcos a message from Reagan urging him to seek a peaceful reconciliation with Aquino, and Marcos gave Habib a report on alleged vote fraud by the opposition, Filipino officials said. Neither document was made public.