Panel Says Marcos Owes U.S. $207,000 for Personal Bills

Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos should repay the U.S. government nearly $207,000 for personal expenses run up last spring during his move to Hawaii, including $20,000 in toll calls, $11,000 in health and beauty aids and $2,500 in shoes, a House panel said Wednesday.

The bills are part of $858,417 spent by the United States to spirit Marcos, his wife, Imelda, and 88 others from Manila after he was deposed Feb. 25, the House Armed Services subcommittee on military readiness said.

The remaining costs--largely for guards, housing and transportation--appear justified under the broad offer of “safe haven” that President Reagan extended to Marcos shortly before he fled the Philippines.

‘Abused Hospitality’

Subcommittee Chairman Dan Daniel (D-Va.) said the panel’s accounting demonstrates that Marcos and his party “abused the hospitality of their hosts” during their brief stop at Guam’s Anderson Air Force Base and a subsequent five-week stay at Hawaii’s Hickam Air Force Base.

“The subcommittee has found no evidence that the Administration has made any effort to recover any of the money,” Daniel said in a statement. “It’s time that is done.”

State Department officials had no immediate comment on Daniel’s demand that Marcos be dunned for the expenses.

Marcos, now living in a private house near Honolulu, has said repeatedly that the U.S. and Philippine governments have seized his assets and that he has no access to large sums of money.

In a brief report, the panel said that the government shouldered “excessive” bills for personal and convenience items while the Marcos entourage stayed at Air Force bases in Guam and Honolulu.

Disputed Bills Listed

Of the $858,417 total, the subcommittee report states, more than $407,000 was used to pay military personnel guarding the Marcos party and would have been spent in any event. Another $183,000 was spent to ferry the Marcos entourage and their personal effects to Hawaii, and $60,000 was paid for medical and miscellaneous costs.

The panel earmarked $206,899 in disputed bills that it said Marcos should be made to repay, including $19,971 in long-distance phone charges, $16,020 in room charges, $15,649 for meals and almost $40,000 in purchases at post exchanges in Guam and Honolulu.