Resign and End Crisis, Reagan Urges Marcos : Won’t Flee, Beleagured Leader Says

A shaken Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos said Monday night that he will not resign or flee the country, even though he and his family “are cowering in terror” inside his palace. As he spoke, key government defectors joined reformist rebel forces, and supporters of opposition leader Corazon Aquino prepared to declare her president today.

In an effort to clear the streets of the tens of thousands of civilian demonstrators who came out to shield rebel forces at a captured television station and military base, Marcos declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew nationwide. He said that the government, under a state of emergency he declared Monday morning, is taking control of all public utilities and broadcast stations.

Marcos himself planned an inaugural ceremony today. He urged his civilian supporters to attend the function, at which, he said, he will issue arms licenses and deputize them as his own “people’s power” force.

‘Last Breath of Life’

In an interview with a privately owned television station, Marcos also vowed that he will, along with his loyal forces, “defend the republic until the last breath of life and until the last drop of blood in our bodies.”

But it was clear Monday that the momentum of events had shifted to the rebels led by former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the former deputy chief of staff. Their break with Marcos on Saturday, apparently the uncoordinated act of two individuals, has snowballed into a full-blown military coup d’etat.

Instead of awaiting an attack by loyalist forces to retake their headquarters at the suburban Manila military base, Camp Crame, the rebels went on the offensive, capturing the government-owned television station and mounting an air attack on an air force base near Manila airport.

By day’s end, crowds everywhere were defying the curfew order and Marcos, still in Malacanang Palace, appeared to be the one besieged.

Response to Rumors

The day began with rumors and radio reports that he had fled the country. In response, Marcos made repeated appearances on TV stations owned by friends and secured by commando troops in an effort to convince the nation that he is still in charge of a viable government.

He had been forced to switch to privately owned stations, however, because of the rebel capture of Channel 4, the government outlet. His first broadcast of the morning was cut off in mid-sentence.

In subsequent broadcasts, Marcos held up copies of the daily paper for the cameras to prove that he was actually where he said he was. The cameras panned around the room to show his wife, Imelda, his son and daughter, and frolicking grandchildren.

The palace compound was filled with tanks and about five battalions of loyal troops. When firecrackers went off in a crowd of pro-opposition civilians milling around outside, the jittery soldiers fired a volley that wounded four people. Others were hurt in the panic that followed.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians continued to surround both the rebels’ military base and the captured television station. Witnesses said an armored column loyal to Marcos was unable to reach the station and turned back.

Aquino addressed the crowd at Camp Crame, telling them that “this is the first time in history that the civilian population has protected the military. Please keep vigil here.”

Hardly Business as Usual

In such an atmosphere, business did not continue as normal. The central bank was closed and planned to remain closed today. Most stores, offices and movie theaters were closed Monday. Cardinal Jaime Sin, primate of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, postponed a long-scheduled visit to the Vatican.

Meanwhile, Aquino’s supporters prepared to inaugurate her as president, the head of a new government, in ceremonies to be held on the grounds of a recreation and social club.

Enrile and Ramos left Camp Crame for the first time in 48 hours to attend the ceremonies. But they urged opposition supporters not to follow, apparently fearing a dilution of the civilian crowds that are trying to inhibit any counterattack at the base and television station by Marcos forces.

The ceremonies were delayed as two snipers on a broadcasting tower near Channel 4 began firing, reportedly wounding three people. The gun battle that followed, at a site near Aquino’s home, seemingly delayed her departure for the inauguration.

With the crackle of gunfire audible over the telephone, she told radio interviewers that she would be leaving for the club soon and that she hoped “this will be the beginning of happier days for the entire country.”

Rockets From Helicopters

The series of events that left Marcos at his most precarious point in 20 years of authoritarian rule came rapid-fire:

--Rebel helicopter gunships fired six rockets into the palace compound, wounding two guards but missing the palace itself.

--Another sortie by three of the gunships, which defected at dawn, giving Enrile and Ramos air-strike capability. The pilots strafed presidential planes at Villamor air base, destroying two helicopters and a C-130 transport and damaging three other helicopters.

--A commando force led by a colonel who defected to Aquino two weeks before the Feb. 7 election, seized and held the government radio and television center. Four loyalists were wounded in the brief fighting, which took place as rebel F-5 fighters flew overhead. The rebels have since turned it into a vital, direct propaganda link to the nation--what one defector, Gen. Eduardo Ermita, called “people’s power television.”

--A growing list of longtime loyalists whose support for the president had once seemed unshakable announced their support for Aquino. Among them was Roman Cruz, president of the national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines; Education Minister Jaime Laya, and key members of Marcos’ ruling party in the National Assembly, which just 10 days ago had proclaimed that Marcos was the winner of the Feb. 7 election and president for six more years.

Cruz, an ardent campaigner for Marcos in the election, advised Aquino of his resignation in a letter addressing her as “Madame President.” A smiling Enrile told reporters, “Now, Philippine Airlines is reporting to us.”

--Dozens of military officers, from generals to second lieutenants, declared their support for the rebel force, which has named itself the New Armed Forces of the Philippines. Ramos asserted Monday that his troops now represent “the overwhelming majority” of the 200,000-man Philippine military.

Table of Organization

Ramos listed the units that had joined his forces--among them the 15th Strike Wing of six jet fighters and seven helicopters, including those used in the Malacanang and Villamor attacks; the 800 Filipino officers and enlisted men from the Clark Air Base Command and 5th Fighter Wing; the Naval Defense Force, which he said includes the country’s warships, and the intelligence elements of armed forces headquarters.

The defecting officers cited both principle and pragmatism for abandoning their commander in chief of the last two decades.

Air Force Col. Manuel Oxales, for instance, had been holed up for two days with other senior officers at his headquarters in Manila’s Camp Aguinaldo, trying to decide which side to choose after Enrile and Ramos seized control of the camp with 300 loyal officers Saturday afternoon.

“I finally made my decision this morning,” said Oxales, hugging his smiling wife after a brief message on the occupied government television station. “When I saw President Marcos during his press conference with just three command generals, I knew he was down to nothing in support.”

But he added that, as a career soldier, he had watched incompetence take hold in the military since Gen. Fabian C. Ver assumed command as chief of staff in 1981. “We need reform,” he said, “and our only hope is that this whole thing works out.”

Hard-Core Support

According to rebel leaders and Western intelligence sources Monday night, Marcos’ bedrock of military support is confined to the five battalions inside his palace and the army ranger and marine battalions at Manila’s Ft. Bonifacio.

According to two opposition leaders and a Western intelligence source who were monitoring radio communications between the palace and field commanders Monday, Marcos, under pressure from an increasingly aggressive Gen. Ver, ordered his loyal troops occupying Fort Aguinaldo to shell Camp Crame with howitzers and mortars.

The order, which came at 10:30 a.m., 30 minutes after Marcos’ broadcast on the government television station had been cut off in mid-sentence, was not obeyed by the marine field commander. Twenty minutes later, Ver personally repeated the order. Another 20 minutes passed and Ver was heard shouting, “Why has there been no firing?”

At noon, the field commander finally agreed to open fire, but moments later, a mysterious order was relayed countermanding the attack. Opposition leader Ernesto Maceda said the second order was actually given by rebel forces, who had tapped into the loyalists’ communications system.

Soon after, Marcos ordered all his troops back to their bases, and a waiting game began.

‘Counting Heads’

“Marcos is counting heads,” said Col. Mariano Santiago, the onetime member of Marcos’ presidential security command, who led Monday’s rebel attack on the government TV station.

“If he finds he has enough loyalist forces to mount a successful attack on us, he’ll hit us. . . . If not, he’ll have a decision to make. Either take a flight out of here, or die with his boots on.”

As for Marcos, he seemed ready for the latter Monday night. In his broadcast message to the nation, the president declared: “I am fit. I am strong. I am ready to go to combat. But I don’t think they’ll let me. I don’t have my sniper rifle, which I might need to protect my family.”

Throughout the day, Marcos tried to picture himself variously as temperate and harsh. He scoffed at rebel claims of victory. “They say that they control the military. The military is ready to assault them in Camp Crame,” he said during a noon television broadcast.

Such claims were met with scorn by Enrile, who served Marcos for two decades and acted as his martial law administrator between 1972 and 1981. Enrile told reporters at Camp Crame: “Marcos is holed up at Malacanang. . . . I think this will not last much longer. There will be spasms, but I think we control the situation.”

Fighting for His Life

Indeed, Marcos told Philippine television interviewers Monday night that he feels he is fighting not only for the preservation of the nation “but for my life and the lives of those around me.”

He added: “My family here is cowering in terror inside Malacanang Palace because of the threats of bombing by helicopter. . . . I would like to quietly and casually inform Mr. Enrile and Mr. Ramos that you better stop this illegal, illicit activity.”

In an attempt to separate Aquino from the military leaders and to depict them as ambitious power usurpers, Marcos repeated throughout the day that Enrile and Ramos form “an illegal, immoral third force” trying to snatch power from Aquino.

And of the civilian support system of the opposition--a phalanx of businessmen, priests, nuns and artists who form the backbone of Aquino’s support--Marcos said he was facing “a new political group that uses spiritual terrorism and physical terrorism in misguiding the temper of the people.”

Responding at his news conference, Enrile did not appear to deny Marcos’ allegation. He said that so far, neither he nor Ramos had held discussions with Aquino on a transfer of power if their rebellion is successful.

Talks With Legislators

“I do not know how soon a government can be formed,” said Enrile, who disclosed that he had talked to opposition members of the National Assembly, urging them to move ahead on forming a government.

Asked who is running the “revolutionary government,” Enrile said Ramos and he were making the decisions. When asked whether Corazon Aquino had been consulted on the military operations, he replied: “I don’t think Mrs. Aquino knows how to shoot. I cannot involve her in this thing.”

But the opposition candidate’s top aides said they were not concerned about a possible threat to her claimed presidential mandate from the two rebel military leaders. Billy Esposo, Aquino’s director of public information, said Monday: “I am not the least bit worried” that Enrile and Ramos might try to set up a permanent military junta. “They support her as president.”

Esposo also thanked Enrile and Ramos for their open defiance to Marcos at a time when Aquino was struggling to keep up the momentum of her nonviolent protest campaign and oust him from office.

“We were ready for a three-week to a three-month campaign of civil disobedience,” he said, “but because of this, it could be just three days. When tyrants go, they go very fast.”