Reagan Warns Marcos of Military Aid Cutoff : Philippine Chief Cautioned Against Attacking Rebel Troops; U.S. Might Offer Him Asylum

President Reagan warned Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Sunday that he risks an immediate cutoff of military aid and “untold damage” to his relations with the United States if troops loyal to him attack opposition forces holed up in a military camp on the outskirts of Manila.

Reagan and top national security advisers were briefed Sunday afternoon on Philippine developments by veteran diplomatic trouble-shooter Philip C. Habib, who had just returned from a weeklong series of discussions in Manila with Marcos, opposition presidential candidate Corazon Aquino and other prominent Filipinos.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes also indicated to reporters that the United States might be willing to grant Marcos asylum, but he stressed that the Philippine leader had not made such a request.

Appeal to Marcos

“The President appealed earlier today to President Marcos to avoid an attack against other elements of the Philippine armed forces,” Speakes said in a statement issued after the high-level White House meeting. “An attempt to resolve this situation by force will surely result in bloodshed and casualties, further polarize Philippine society and cause untold damage to the relationship between our governments.”

The statement stressed that American military aid to the Marcos government was meant only to fight Communist insurgents, not to suppress a widely backed rebellion of dissident but moderate forces such as the one launched Saturday by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos.

“We cannot continue our existing military assistance if the government uses that aid against other elements of the Philippine military which enjoy substantial popular backing,” the statement continued.

Asked if Reagan planned an immediate aid cutoff in light of the retaking by Marcos forces of one of two camps occupied by the rebel military forces, Speakes said Reagan was assessing the situation.

”. . . If he makes the determination that our military aid is being used improperly . . . being used against other Filipinos, then the aid will be stopped,” Speakes explained.

Earlier in the day, top Senate Republicans for the first time flatly called on Reagan to pressure Marcos to leave the Philippines and avoid bloodshed.

The Magic Word: ‘Go’

“The problem, I suppose, is finally saying the magic word, and that is ‘Go’,” said Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in an interview on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, seconded those sentiments in an interview on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

But Speakes said Reagan continues to maintain that he has no right to tell Marcos to step down. “The President (Reagan) believes that an effective government in the Philippines is a matter to be determined by the Philippine people, and we would await the decision of the Philippine people on this,” he said. “It’s not a matter for us to say.”

Also participating in the White House talks with Reagan and Habib were Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, CIA Director William J. Casey, White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and Gen. Paul X. Kelley, commandant of the Marine Corps.

Speakes said Habib provided the group with an “accurate assessment” of the political crisis in the strategic island nation, racked by mounting turmoil after a fraud-tainted Feb. 7 presidential election that Aquino charges was stolen from her. However, the White House spokesman was vague when pressed for details of Habib’s report.

There is a “good” possibility that Reagan will send Habib back to the Philippines later this week to continue talks with both government and opposition forces, Speakes said.

The latest crisis was touched off Saturday when Enrile and Ramos, charging that Marcos had lost his mandate as a legitimate ruler, resigned their government positions and barricaded themselves in two military camps behind a wall of sympathetic troops and thousands of civilians called to the scene by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Manila.

Marcos, accusing the pair of plotting to kill him, called for their surrender and threatened to capture them by force if necessary.

U.S. Embassy in Touch

Speakes said that officials of the U.S. Embassy in Manila have been in contact with Enrile and Ramos at their enclave on the outskirts of Manila. He also hinted that American officials have been warned of the rebellion. “You can assume that we have an active embassy,” he said.

In his briefing for reporters, the Administration spokesman clearly indicated Reagan’s willingness to offer Marcos a safe haven in the United States to defuse the explosive situation in the Philippines.

“The President (Reagan) would certainly look toward any way to resolve this matter peacefully,” Speakes said. “There has been no request for asylum, for safe refuge for President Marcos. Until there is, I cannot address that specific question, but we would certainly do whatever we can for a peaceful resolution of this matter.”

Speakes said Reagan’s warning against the use of military force was communicated through diplomatic channels. The two leaders had not spoken directly, he added.

‘Licensing a Rebellion’

Meanwhile, Philippine Labor Minister Blas Ople complained that the White House was virtually “licensing a rebellion in a friendly country” when it issued a strong statement Saturday indicating that the Reagan Administration shared the complaints of electoral fraud and corruption aired by Enrile and Ramos.

Ople, a longtime Marcos confidant, was sent to Washington late last week by the Philippine president to plead his case. In an interview, Ople acknowledged that chances of salvaging White House support for Marcos are slim.

The labor chief complained that Marcos’ reputation had been the victim of distorted, saturation media reports of electoral fraud and corruption, which he termed the “greatest bullying operation in the history of nations.” Reagan has long been a friend of Marcos but may be unable to resist anti-Marcos political pressures created by the media-poisoned atmosphere, Ople contended.

“Besieged as he is now by pressures based on the wrong perceptions of what happened in the Philippines . . . then he (Reagan) has to be helpless,” Ople said. “He must think there is something flawed about the reports themselves, but he has to react to a political environment like everybody else. And therefore I do not expect President Reagan to be able to summon the same moral courage that he has demonstrated on other issues.”

Ople predicted that Marcos would shrug off mounting external pressure to resign, although he insisted that the Philippine leader might consider entering into some kind of power-sharing arrangement with opposition forces to relieve tensions.

“I know the president is probably the most tenacious man on the planet right now,” Ople said.