U.S. Runs Up $450,000 Tab for Marcos--So Far

The United States has spent nearly $450,000 to transport deposed Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his party from Manila and lodge him at a U.S. Air Force base in Hawaii, according to a Pentagon official.

The figures were supplied at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday by James A. Kelly, a deputy assistant defense secretary. He said the total included $87,000 for “upkeep” of the Marcos party.

Kelly said it cost about $200,000 for U.S. military planes to fly Marcos, his 89 associates and 300 boxes of possessions and money from Manila to Hawaii.

He said it has not been resolved who will pay the bills, which include overseas phone calls and thousands of dollars in purchases at military post exchanges at Hickam and in Guam, where Marcos’ party made an intermediate stop.

State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said that Marcos is trying to arrange the rental of a home in Honolulu but that there have been complications involving the lease.

In the meantime, it has cost $150,000 for the services of guards and military personnel attending Marcos at Hickam Air Force Base, where he and his entourage have been living since late February when he fled his palace after 20 years of rule.