When Marcos Talks, Nobody Listens, Washington Says

The State Department wrote a political obituary for former Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Tuesday, declaring “he may continue to talk, but one one is listening.”

The failed siege of the Manila Hotel by backers of Marcos and other attempts to unsettle the government of his successor, President Corazon Aquino, “so vividly demonstrate Mr. Marcos’ political influence and effectiveness is at an end,” the State Department said in a statement read by spokesman Bernard Kalb.

“He may not have realized it, but certainly everyone else does,” Kalb said in response to questions about the short-lived rebellion in Manila by Marcos supporters. Rebel soldiers and civilians, led by one-time running mate Arturo Tolentino, occupied the Manila Hotel for 38 hours before relenting.

“The United States considers Ferdinand Marcos a persona from the past--past tense and so forth,” Kalb said. “ . . . No one is listening. That sentence adds up to an obituary for the attempt that took place over the weekend in Manila.”