Marcos Passport Squabble Greets Shultz in Manila

Secretary of State George P. Shultz landed here Thursday in the middle of a heated controversy touched off by one of his own statements about whether the new Philippine government of President Corazon Aquino should give a passport to ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos, now living in exile in Hawaii.

Shultz, who flew here after stops in Japan and South Korea, said he had come to discuss how the Reagan Administration can help Aquino achieve economic recovery--without further increases in U.S. aid to the Philippines.

But the most heated issue facing him during his 26-hour visit is neither the Philippines’ $26-billion national debt nor the fighting in the countryside as the armed forces struggle to quell an escalating Communist insurgency. As far as the Philippines is concerned, the major issue is the exile status of Marcos, who has pledged that he will return here.

Shultz and President Reagan both have been pressing the Aquino government either to give Marcos travel documents that would let him leave his Hawaiian exile or return his passport, which Aquino specifically revoked after Marcos fled the Philippines on Feb. 25.

Aquino has said that Marcos may not return to the Philippines because of the destabilizing effect his presence here would tend to have. She has also urged the United States to keep him pinned down in Hawaii, where Philippine government lawyers can investigate him and pursue litigation to try to recover $5 billion to $10 billion that the Aquino government believes he stole from the treasury during his nearly two decades in power.

Last week in Indonesia, Reagan and Shultz both told Salvador Laurel, Aquino’s vice president and foreign minister, that Marcos is becoming a political nuisance and an embarrassment to the United States, Laurel told reporters here. He said they urged Aquino to furnish the documents that would allow Marcos to leave the United States.

Cabinet Divided

The issue was debated for more than an hour Wednesday by Aquino’s Cabinet, which is divided on the issue.

Information Minister Teodoro Locsin, one of Aquino’s closest advisers, told reporters afterward: “We want Marcos to stay in the United States. We want Marcos to be sued in the United States. We want Marcos to die in the United States.”

Other Cabinet members took a softer line. Laurel himself is known to favor permitting Marcos to travel to a third country for exile, possibly by granting him a travel document valid only for that country.

But Ernesto Maceda, Aquino’s natural resources minister and a former Marcos aide, said the Cabinet is largely opposed to Marcos moving out of Hawaii--”no one in the Cabinet wants him to come back to the Philippines,” Maceda said. “Maybe the United States could send him to the Virgin Islands.”

Will Meet Aquino

Aquino herself said she has not made a decision on the issue and will withhold judgment until after she meets with Shultz. Other aides indicated that Aquino will not give Shultz an answer on the passport question during their scheduled meeting at the presidential guest house this morning.

Whether or not the Philippine government gives Marcos the papers needed for him to travel out of the United States, one thing is certain: He will not be allowed to return here legally. Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile has pledged to arrest Marcos if he tries to come back.

Groups of Marcos loyalists have recently staged rallies and demonstrations in an attempt to press Aquino to agree to Marcos’ standing request that he be allowed to live in his homeland “as a peasant.” One such rally May 1 became a full-blown riot that destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and left scores injured.

Marcos also enjoys the loyalty of hundreds of armed military deserters, who military sources say went underground after the deposed president fled Manila.

Groups loyal to Marcos vowed to hold several anti-U.S. demonstrations during Shultz’s visit, as have leaders of several leftist organizations that assert the United States is trying to dominate Philippine affairs through its aid programs.

At a dinner in his honor Thursday night, Shultz told Philippines officials that “the United States stands ready to work with you to help find solutions to . . . critical problems such as economic development (and) rebuilding of your armed forces.”

The Aquino Administration has said it would like to receive far more financial help than the additional $150 million that President Reagan promised after Aquino took office. Current U.S. economic aid to the Philippines amounts to almost $500 million per year.

The government needs the funds to help repay more than $26 billion in foreign debt incurred during Marcos’ rule.

Nuclear Plant Debt

Among those debts is $2.1 billion for a U.S.-built nuclear power plant that the Aquino government has tentatively decided to mothball in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union.

During his brief visit, Shultz will also meet with several Cabinet members, Roman Catholic Church leaders and officials from Marcos’ former government who now constitute the political opposition. He will also meet with Defense Minister Enrile and military chief of staff Fidel V. Ramos, who together led the coup that forced Marcos into exile.

Shultz told Laurel and other officials at Thursday’s dinner that the United States will move ahead with its aid plans but warned that additional assistance is unlikely, aides said.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane en route from Seoul, Shultz said additional aid is probably impossible because of Congress’ cuts in the foreign aid budget, which he called “not in the interest of the United States.”

Shultz flew to Manila from the South Korean capital, where he praised the pro-American government of President Chun Doo Hwan for its strong military posture against Communist North Korea, its successful economic policies and its gradual steps toward democracy.

Chun, who took power in the military coup, has promised to step down in 1988 and allow presidential elections.

“The institutions of democracy are taking shape,” Shultz said at a press conference in Seoul. “Most of the campuses are quiet.”

He spoke after a long lunch with Chun.

Before meeting with Chun, Shultz had breakfast Thursday with a mixed group of pro-government and opposition politicians.

Shultz said the main opposition figure with whom he spoke, Lee Min Woo, told him that a successful transition to democracy could only be achieved if Chun agrees to direct presidential elections in 1988. The current constitution calls for the president to be chosen by a 5,000-member electoral college, which the opposition charges would be open to government manipulation.

Many Indirect Elections

Shultz dismissed the dissidents’ concern. “It is not particularly typical around the world that leaders of democratic countries are put there by direct elections,” he said. “They aren’t. The President of the United States isn’t; the prime minister of Great Britain isn’t.”

Asked whether the opposition leaders seemed satisfied with the pace of political change, Shultz said, “Everybody felt that good progress was being made.”

Shultz said after his conversations with Chun that he expects to see a relaxation of press censorship in South Korea. “If you’re going to have a valid election campaign, the candidates have to be able to get their views around,” he said.

But he appeared more concerned over the prospect of instability than over the remaining restrictions on civil liberties.

“No one said the situation in human rights is perfect--not here, not in the United States, not anywhere,” he said.

Shultz said he sees no parallel between the situation in South Korea and the unrest in the Philippines before the fall of Marcos. “I can’t imagine two countries more different,” he said.