Aquino Alleges Hypocrisy in U.N. Charter

President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines on Monday denounced the U.N. Charter as “an invitation to hypocrisy” and warned the world body against supporting “oppressive and corrupt” leaders such as her predecessor, Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Aquino also called on “the millions of victims of apartheid” in South Africa to unite against their government. She warned authoritarian leaders throughout the world that “every act of oppression reaps its final return.”

Citing her protest campaign that led to Marcos’ downfall last February, Aquino said the United Nations has shown that it can do little more than set international standards of human rights.

‘Must Be Masters of Own Fate’

“In the end,” she said, “to vindicate those rights, to achieve freedom, you are on your own. People must be masters of their own fate.”

The speech had been billed by Aquino’s aides as an effort to address frankly the failures of the United Nations while at the same time reaffirming the Philippines’ support for the world body.

Aquino assured the General Assembly that her government continues to support “what the U.N., at its best, stands for: peace, freedom, dignity and partnership of mankind.”

Then she added, “But let me also serve warning to those denied freedom and dignity: Don’t look beyond yourselves to find them.”

Aquino explained the tone of her speech by telling the assembly, “I believe one must be frank to be relevant,” but a senior adviser to the president explained later that she harbors anger toward the United Nations for permitting Marcos’ wife, Imelda, to address the assembly on Oct. 18, 1985, at the height of Aquino’s protest campaign.

“As our country bled at the hands of a government that had lost all respect for the rights of our people, its leader’s wife came to this same podium piously to call for a new human order,” Aquino said.

There were thousands of political prisoners in jails throughout the Philippines at the time, Aquino said.

‘Abuse’ of Assembly

“There should be concern about allowing this chamber to be abused by those who claim one standard of behavior and behave according to another back home,” she said.

According to the official U.N. transcript, Imelda Marcos did speak to the body about her “vision of a world free from war, oppression and injustice.” She conceded, however, that “we may not see its practical results in our lifetime.”

In the course of her eight-day visit to the United States, Aquino has received one standing ovation after another, but there was no standing ovation by the General Assembly.

There was thunderous applause, however--although some delegations, among them Albania’s, Ethiopia’s and Egypt’s, did not applaud at all.

Clearly, several of Aquino’s aides said, she was attempting to assume a leadership role among Third World countries.

“My message today,” she declared, “is an effort to bring the mission of the U.N. into sharper focus to the end that there shall be no more disappointments over unwarranted expectations.”

‘Doing What We Preach’

She cautioned the body against too strict an interpretation of its charter, which orders that it not interfere in the sovereign affairs of nations.

“The value of this chamber should rest on us, its members, doing what we preach,” Aquino said. “If the U.N. does not notice how governments treat people, it is nothing.”

The speech was a highlight of Aquino’s U.S. visit, which has included meetings with President Reagan, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, academic leaders and international bankers.

A few hours before her address, a group of attorneys visited Aquino at her hotel and handed her the deed to a $1-million, 13-acre estate near Princeton, N.J., and a check for $290,000--part of the hidden wealth that Marcos, she alleges, sent illegally out of the country.

Court Case Award

Clive Cummins, an attorney working with a Philippine commission set up by Aquino to find Marcos’ assets at home and abroad, said Marcos had purchased the 162-year-old New Jersey mansion for his daughter, Imee Marcos Manotoc.

Cummins said the $290,000 check represented Philippine government funds that Marcos attempted to hide in a New Jersey bank account held by a party that cooperated with the investigators.

According to Cummins, a New Jersey state judge ordered both the money and the mansion returned to the Philippine government in a Sept. 12 ruling on an uncontested case that Cummins filed on behalf of the Philippine government.

Asked about the significance of the case, Martin Stavis, president of the Center for Constitution Rights, a lawyers’ group that has volunteered to work with the Philippine hidden-wealth commission, said the court order is proof that “the American nation will not harbor the ill-gotten wealth of a dictator.”