Marcos’ Rally Opens Drive to Regain Power

Ferdinand E. Marcos, in his first open political rally since leaving his homeland in disgrace, publicly launched a campaign Sunday for his return to office.

The deposed president of the Philippines called on his followers to fight for his restoration but to “avoid bloodletting.”

“Without violence, we will try to convince our people . . . that freedom is the only option,” Marcos told a cheering crowd of about 5,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

“Rest assured, I speak as the legitimate president of the Philippines,” he said to a roar of support.

The crowd, including hundreds of loyal clansmen from Marcos’ home province of Ilocos, cheered as Marcos entered a basketball arena here and sat on a red velvet throne.

They cheered again as Marcos and his wife, Imelda, stepped to the microphone to sing an old Filipino love song.

Officially, the event was a Mother’s Day tribute to Imelda and a celebration of the couple’s 32nd wedding anniversary. Imelda Marcos, who has been widely criticized for amassing huge quantities of art, expensive clothing and chic shoes during her husband’s 20-year rule, wore a conservative green dress, a pair of simple black high heels and a crown of tropical flowers.

But in reality--a reality shown by the hundreds of Marcos campaign T-shirts around the hall--the rally was the first major event of Marcos’ new campaign in exile: a growing effort to promote his return to the office he lost to a popular uprising in February.

Noting that Sunday was Mother’s Day, Marcos said: “If we, this generation, cannot redeem our freedom with our lives . . . we will bear a generation that will redeem the freedom and justice and honor of our country.”

That philosophical note and Marcos’ repeated call to avoid “a possible civil war” in the Philippines appeared aimed at blunting criticism from the Reagan Administration that he is abusing U.S. hospitality by fomenting violence to destabilize the new government of President Corazon Aquino.

Marcos aides said the rally was videotaped for the use of Marcos loyalists in the Philippines, but it was not broadcast directly.

“We think Marcos won the election. We believe he is the real president,” said Warlita Arciaga of Marina del Rey, one of about a hundred Californians who flew to Hawaii to meet with Marcos and attend the rally. “Nothing can make me lose my love for this man.”

“Shhh,” said her seatmate, Violet Atiga of Glendora. “We’re supposed to be nonpolitical.”

‘I Love Marcos’

Both wore buttons left over from February’s presidential campaign in the Philippines with a red heart reading: “I love Marcos.”

And both, like most of the rest of the crowd, were undying loyalists--not only indifferent to the charges of corruption that have mounted against their hero, but positively indignant about them.

To the faithful, the Marcos’ amassing of wealth has not swayed their beliefs.

“She is a wonderful lady and she has suffered a great deal,” Arciaga said.

Despite the holiday air of the rally, with vendors hawking cold drinks and souvenirs, Marcos’ political aides and the Reagan Administration took a more serious view.

“We wish he wouldn’t do this sort of thing, and he knows it,” a senior State Department official said.

After several weeks of despondent inactivity after his fall, Marcos has resumed political life with a vengeance--asserting his claim in public that he is the legitimate president of the Philippines.

More worrisome to both Manila and Washington, he has also begun organizing his supporters to build support for a return to power should Aquino falter.

Marcos has addressed rallies in the Philippines by telephone and even acted as the long-distance guest on a Manila radio talk show.

Into the Wee Hours

A Marcos associate here says the ex-president has also begun working seriously to assemble a new political organization, holding strategy meetings with aides until 3 or 4 a.m.

In the United States, an organization called “the Friends of Marcos in America” has been organizing committees, publishing newsletters and raising funds.

In the Philippines, a Marcos-organized rally in Manila on May 1 turned into a riot that police officials said appeared to have been planned. Marcos supporters have also demonstrated in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, accusing the State Department of having kidnaped their leader.

The sudden flurry of pro-Marcos agitation has touched off widespread rumors in Manila that the exiled former president might secretly return to lead a revolt--according to one fanciful version, under the sponsorship of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

One State Department official noted worriedly that Marcos’ health--often precarious in the past after a reported kidney transplant--appears to have rebounded. “It’s as if the fight reinvigorates him,” the official said.

Both the Reagan and Aquino administrations have complained that Marcos’ actions could destabilize the Philippine government, which the United States has pledged to support.

And during his visit to Manila last week, Secretary of State George P. Shultz pointedly advised some ex-Marcos aides not to undermine Aquino. Asked about Marcos’ telephone calls back home, Shultz said bluntly, “I don’t think it’s helpful, and we have given him our views. But in the United States we believe in freedom . . . he can pick up the telephone.”

The Aquino government and Washington differ on how to deal with the problem. The Reagan Administration wants Marcos to move out of the United States, as he has said he wants to do, and has argued that this would make it more difficult for him to continue his political campaigning. Aquino’s government wants Marcos to stay where he is, in Hawaii, where he is subject to subpoenas from American courts.