Pro-Marcos Rally Urges Action on Communist Rebels
About 3,000 supporters of ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos demonstrated outside a military camp in a Manila suburb Sunday against the Communist insurgency in the Philippines.
Demonstrators waving placards reading “Better Dead Than Red” and “We Are Against Communism” urged the government to crack down on Communists, who they said have come down from the hills and are now operating in the cities.
Several speakers at the rally at Ft. Bonifacio accused President Corazon Aquino of “coddling Communists” and demanded the return of Marcos from exile in Hawaii.
Police reported no incidents at the rally, one of several in the Philippines marking the 14th anniversary of the imposition of martial law by Marcos.
Rallies by supporters of Marcos have been a regular Sunday feature in Manila since his ouster.
In Butuan, southern Philippines, at least two soldiers were killed and eight wounded Saturday when hundreds of Communist guerrillas ambushed a military convoy, an army field commander said Sunday.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Communist rebel attacks since March, representing an 11% increase over the same period last year, military headquarters said.
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