Philippine Vice President to Seek Reagan Assurances

Citing “cobwebs of doubt” over President Reagan’s commitment to his government, Philippine Vice President Salvador Laurel said he will seek direct assurances from Reagan in a meeting here today that the President is fully behind President Corazon Aquino and is not encouraging the “self-proclaimed Marcos government in exile.”

Reagan’s lengthy and highly publicized telephone call last weekend to deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos has spurred doubts in the Philippines that Reagan has in fact made the adjustment from his old friend and ally to the opposition party now in power.

“Tomorrow I will get it straight from the horse’s mouth,” Laurel told reporters.

Stability First

At the same time, he said that Marcos will some day be welcome to return to his home village in the Philippines.

“We are not going to stop him from coming home,” Laurel said. “He is a Filipino. We are just asking him to stay away a little while. When the country is stabilized--and it won’t take very long--he can come home.”

Laurel, who also holds the office of foreign minister, is in Bali for a meeting of foreign ministers of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations.

He estimated that Marcos could come home by the end of the year. And he showed no concern that Marcos might regain power.

“He’s not going to pull a MacArthur,” Laurel said, referring to Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur’s successful vow--”I shall return”--after the Japanese drove him out of the Philippines in 1942.

U.S. Aid Insufficient

Laurel said Reagan’s pledge of $150 million in additional foreign aid to the Philippines was “certainly not enough” and that he will press U.S. officials for more help in recovering assets held by Marcos in American banks.

“Mr. Marcos went away and took almost all the money with him,” he said. “The country’s broke.”

Laurel met with Secretary of State George P. Shultz in preparation for his meeting with Reagan. He said Shultz assured him that Reagan had told Marcos, in the long Hawaii phone conversation, to “stop hoping he will make a comeback in politics.”

While there is “no doubt” in his mind of Reagan’s support, Laurel said, his countrymen still have “some lingering doubts” because of statements made by Reagan during the height of the revolution in the Philippines.

He cited Reagan’s assertion at a news conference that the followers of both Aquino and Marcos were guilty of fraud during the highly emotional February election, when overwhelming evidence indicated that Marcos was to blame.

Straight Talk Promised

Laurel said he will talk to Reagan “very straight and very frankly.” He expressed optimism that the President will deliver the assurances he needs to carry back to the Philippines and resolve the issue “once and for all.”

A senior Administration official said Reagan will “reinforce” what Shultz told Laurel. “I don’t think there are any cobwebs of doubt left, if there ever were any,” the official said.

Reagan will meet with the foreign ministers today before heading for the Tokyo economic summit meeting, which opens Sunday. The stopover in Bali is an effort to provide Reagan with a rest stop on his long trip to the Far East. The President spent Wednesday enjoying the sun and surf of this tropical island.

When he meets with Indonesian President Suharto this morning, Reagan is expected to avoid mentioning the volatile human rights issue in this country.

Nor is Reagan expected to raise the issue of press freedom, which arose here when Indonesian authorities barred two Australian journalists from covering his trip in retaliation for an article in the Australian press charging corruption in the Suharto regime and comparing his rule to that of Marcos. A correspondent for the New York Times was similarly barred from covering the Reagan visit because of unfavorable reporting.

Indonesian Sensitivity Noted

Administration officials said that it would be counterproductive for Reagan to raise these issues in a country that has made progress in both areas and is extremely sensitive to criticism.

Indonesia presents “a clouded picture, not black, but fairly light gray” on human rights, said another senior Administration official, who added that the country has made tremendous economic strides as well as improved its record on human rights during Suharto’s more than 20 years in office.

“In 1963,” the official said, referring to the period of ousted President Sukarno’s rule, “28,000 starved to death on Bali alone. And the foreign minister at that time told the U.N. to go to hell when they offered aid. The atmosphere at the time was horrible.”

Although Indonesia remains a poor country with a per-capita income of just over $500, its economic growth under Suharto “puts most other developing countries to shame,” he said.

Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, Indonesia’s foreign minister, said the ASEAN members plan to tell Reagan that falling oil prices, as well as those of other raw materials, are hurting their countries’ economies and that trade restrictions, such as U.S. textile quotas, are exacerbating the situation.

All these things, Mochtar told a news conference, “are not helpful to young developing countries trying to stand on their own two feet.”