1 Killed, 60 Hurt in Pro-Marcos Rioting : 1,000 Loyalists Protest Aquino’s Ouster of Mayor

Supporters of deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos clashed with police today in a fray that left one person dead and 60 injured, and Marcos loyalists called for civil disobedience at a rump session of the abolished National Assembly.

Anti-riot troops tangled with Marcos followers in a melee of rock-throwing and gunfire. The loyalists were protesting the ouster of former Mayor Joseph Estrada, who served under Marcos, in the Manila suburb of San Juan.

Police Chief Lt. Col. Enrique Aguinaldo said police were attacked first by stones and then by Molotov cocktails and gunfire from the crowd at San Juan.

Crowd of 1,000

Police said that 60 anti-riot police had to deal with a crowd of up to 1,000 that was caught up in the fighting. Hospitals reported that one person was shot to death and 60 were hurt, including 18 policemen.

In a hotel discotheque in Manila, 93 former deputies from Marcos’ New Society Movement party held a silent prayer for what they claimed were six people killed in the San Juan clash and four others killed in the town of Malabon.

Authorities said they knew of just the one death at San Juan.

With more than 2,000 people outside chanting “We still want Marcos” in Tagalog, members of the defunct Assembly sang the national anthem and cheered former Assemblyman Arturo Tolentino’s call for civil disobedience against the government of President Corazon Aquino.

However, little mention of Marcos was made during the session.

Resolution Passed

The gathering passed a resolution calling for the retention in office of governors, mayors and judges ousted by Aquino’s government.

Rene Saguisag, the presidential spokesman, said the rump session was not illegal. “As far as we’re concerned, they’re just having a reunion. Those are the noises of democracy,” he said.

Tolentino, Marcos’ vice presidential running mate in tainted Feb. 7 elections, told the rump Assembly, “If the people in the past resorted to civil disobedience, now I say exercise also civil disobedience.”

He told reporters that he was referring to Aquino’s call for civil disobedience against Marcos before Marcos fled Feb. 26 after a civil and military revolt.

Tolentino called for a “parliament of the streets,” the term used for huge demonstrations against Marcos, but did not say what other kind of action he was advocating.

Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra said in an interview on government television, which carried a report on the rump assembly, “This is probably the difference between this regime and the Marcos regime: This government welcomes a second opinion.”