Troops Arrest Rioting Marcos Loyalists

Riot troops fired tear gas grenades and water cannon and arrested more than 60 supporters of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos after rioting broke out Thursday between thousands of Marcos loyalists and supporters of President Corazon Aquino.

It was the biggest episode of street violence since Aquino came to power two months ago. At least 33 people were injured, two with gunshot wounds, during the hourlong street battles, which authorities said destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property in the heart of Manila’s tourist district.

The violence erupted just a few hundred feet from a downtown park where President Aquino was addressing tens of thousands of union leaders and workers during the country’s annual Labor Day celebration.

No Mention of Violence

Aquino made no mention of the violence in her speech, in which she granted major new concessions to organized labor in the Philippines. One top aide said the president was unaware of the nearby rioting while she was speaking.

It was not clear what sparked the rock- and bottle-throwing between the two groups, but friends of the deposed president said that Marcos personally had warned them by telephone several days ago to remain at home Thursday “because there will be trouble in the streets.”

The main group involved in the rioting had broken away from a near-permanent, anti-government demonstration by Marcos loyalists outside the U.S. Embassy. For the last three weeks, the loyalists have been staging a day and night protest on the busy boulevard, yelling obscenities at passing foreigners and posting signs condemning the Reagan Administration for its role in the Feb. 25 civilian and military coup that drove Marcos into exile in Hawaii.

Aquino’s government has charged that Marcos aides in Manila are paying each of the protesters $2.50 a day to maintain their angry vigil, but Aquino said she will allow the protest to continue because it demonstrates that democracy has returned to the Philippines.

Under the Marcos regime, protests by opposition leaders such as Aquino were routinely dispersed by riot troops using tear gas and water cannon, and, at the height of Thursday’s rioting, Aquino’s information minister, Teodoro Locsin said: “The president has told the police to treat them (the Marcos loyalists) no different than you treated us. You used maximum tolerance then. Use it now.”

The violence broke out at the height of an annual Asian Development Bank meeting in Manila, and it was witnessed by representatives of the largest banking institutions in the world. Among them are creditors of the financially besieged Philippine government, which is struggling to repay $27 billion in foreign debt.

The riots were also timed to coincide with Aquino’s May Day efforts to appease the nation’s unions, which have staged more than 70 strikes against public and private businesses in the Philippines since she assumed office.