U.S. Chamber Won’t Back Marcos Win : Disavows Statement of Support by U.S. Lawyer in Manila

American businessmen, wary of being embroiled in a consumer boycott of firms linked to President Ferdinand E. Marcos, today disavowed a statement supporting the conduct of the recent presidential election.

The 500-member American Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors met in emergency session to assess statements by Manila-based American attorney William Quasha, whose comments were reported prominently in the pro-government press earlier in the day.

In a telegram to Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Quasha called the election “the least dishonest and least bloody” since Philippine independence from the United States in 1946.

Claims Views Shared

He suggested his views were shared by 40 U.S. businessmen in Manila, including Alex Keller, head of Procter & Gamble Philippines, which would be highly vulnerable to a boycott.

The board said it was “unequivocally” disassociating the chamber from Quasha’s view--a move perceived as a bid by the American businessmen to avoid being added to a list of firms targeted in a 5-day-old boycott campaign led by Marcos rival Corazon Aquino.

Aquino has urged her supporters to begin a campaign of civil disobedience and a selective economic boycott to protest fraud and other abuses in the Feb. 7 presidential election. The official government vote count showed Marcos winning the election but independent counts showed Aquino was the victor.

Partisan Act Deplored

“The American Chamber deplores the partisan approach taken by attorney Quasha,” said a statement to be published in newspapers this weekend. “The American Chamber board has no knowledge of 40 chamber members supporting Quasha’s views.”

Meanwhile today, the presidential palace said Marcos--facing a snub by foreign diplomats at his inauguration Tuesday--has dispatched envoys to Washington, Tokyo and European capitals, including the Vatican.

A palace spokesman said that the envoys would “explain the political situation” in the Philippines, and that Marcos is also considering sending Vice President-elect Arturo Tolentino to talk to leaders of the five other members of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, of which the Philippines is a member.

Appeal to Military

Also today, opposition leaders called on the powerful Philippine Armed Forces to abandon Marcos as his last key bastion of support, and they presented a Philippine army captain who declared he was resigning from the military because he would rather die fighting against a government he called “illegitimate, repressive, unjust and corrupt.”

Capt. Jose Resurreccion conceded that his resignation was the act of just one man, but it came amid increasing signs of factionalism and discontent in the 200,000-member Philippine military, and he said his statement denouncing Marcos’ reelection as fraudulent was the view of the majority of Philippine military officers.