He’s Hardly ‘Short on Cash,’ U.S. Aide Says : Marcos’ Secret Service Protection Ended

Ferdinand E. Marcos lost the Secret Service protection Monday that he has had for the last six weeks--and with it what one State Department official pointedly called “the last official financial link” between the deposed Philippine president and his Reagan Administration hosts.

The action followed a weeklong standoff in which Marcos reportedly told skeptical U.S. officials that he had no money to hire private guards and was told in response that he faces obvious physical danger if he does not.

“We’re prompting him to do what a prudent person would do,” said the State Department official, who asked that he not be identified. But he added that “under no circumstances” would U.S. protection be continued.

Asked whether money to hire private guards is an issue, the official said: “I don’t think Ferdinand Marcos has been short on cash since he assumed the presidency of the Philippines in 1965.”

But asked whether U.S. officials are certain that Marcos would spend the money for private security, he replied, “We sure as hell hope so.”

A private guard wearing a blue uniform was posted Monday morning outside the rented beachfront home here where Marcos and his wife, Imelda, now live. Neither the guard nor his Honolulu employer, Professional Security Services Inc., would comment on the terms of their job.

On Sunday, the Marcoses accepted gifts of cash, reportedly for security needs, from about 300 supporters who rallied outside their home.

In Manila, lawyer Rafael Recto, who said he is representing the Marcos family’s interests in the Philippines, said that he does not know who is paying their rent in Hawaii.

The removal of federal guards symbolized what several advisers call growing tension between the Marcos party and the Reagan Administration, which has been swayed by the outcry against the former Philippine leader.

The White House had granted the Marcoses 30 days of U.S. protection after they fled Manila in February and arrived in Hawaii. It twice extended this guard service after the couple moved from Hickam Air Force Base to a private home late in March.

Marcos “has taken the position that he cannot afford to contract with a private security agency,” said an adviser close to the negotiations. That source said the Marcoses had warned that they would be forced to do without guards should federal protection be ended.

But the Administration, already criticized for shouldering huge bills that the Marcos party ran up at Hickam and earlier at Guam, has refused to continue the guard.

“He’s in his own home, rented and paid for,” the State Department official said. “The offer of safe haven still stands, but the U.S. government is no longer paying for his care and protection.”

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Administration officials say that Marcos can easily afford private security, which might cost $50,000 a month or more, but is reluctant to tap hidden wealth for fear that it will be seized in one of the dozen or more lawsuits filed against him.

Before removing its guards, the Administration tried but failed to arrange other security to supplant the Secret Service. The Philippine servants and guards who fled with Marcos cannot legally use guns in Hawaii.

U.S. officials reportedly failed last week in efforts to persuade Honolulu police to take over the guard duties.

The house is situated on a relatively open plot of land, separated from its neighbors by only a highway and a hedge. It has been regularly picketed by anti-Marcos demonstrators, but there has been no word of any attempt to harm the Marcoses.

Administration officials said they know of no specific threats against the Marcos party but added that the former president faces a general threat from “kooks” with a grievance against his 20-year rule of the Philippines.