Enrile Reports Communist Terrorism Campaign in Manila

More than 20,000 anti-Communist demonstrators burned giant red flags bearing hammers and sickles as Philippine Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile declared at a rally Sunday that two recent bombings in Manila were part of a new Communist campaign of urban terrorism aimed at taking the country by force.

Citing the weekend bomb blast at a McDonald’s restaurant in a suburban shopping center and another at the corporate headquarters of the government’s tourism minister, Enrile declared at the rally that urban guerrillas “are now in the centers of the towns and cities throughout the nation.”

Denies It’s Politics

Enrile, appearing in his second public rally in two days, asserted that he was “not engaging in politics.” “I am here,” he told the crowd, “to tell our people to wake up to danger--to use people’s power against communism.”

But the controversial defense minister continued to attack the government of President Corazon Aquino for what he called a “lack of direction,” inefficiency and instability in her new administration.

Enrile’s weekend rallies came after a week of crisis in which a widening rift between Aquino and the powerful defense chief--who helped bring her to power amid a church-backed military revolt in February--threatened to tear apart the nation’s ruling coalition, formed when deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled into exile.

The rallies and sharp criticisms signaled that Enrile remains dissatisfied with his two-hour “cease-fire talks” with the president last week, and Defense Ministry officials said Enrile will intensify his public campaign against the government in the coming days.

On Sunday, it appeared that Enrile also had picked up new allies. Several thousand in the crowd at the rally clearly were leftovers from the Marcos loyalist rallies that erupted after Aquino rose to power. Dozens of times, they shouted, “Still Marcos! Still Marcos!” Many carried color portraits of the deposed leader. And many times, as Enrile spoke, the rally’s organizers had to stop the crowd from chanting, “Bring back Marcos!” and encourage them to shout, “En-Ree-Lay! En-Ree-Lay!”

In what aides said was a reaction to public statements last week by U.S. Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth, who “unequivocally” endorsed Aquino as the sole Philippine leader, Enrile angrily shouted to the crowd, “We must take care of our own future and not leave to the hands of foreigners the decision on the fate of our country.”

Calls for Campaign

Throughout the rally, Enrile shouted appeals to the demonstrators to join his public campaign to force the rest of the Philippine government into taking a harder line against the burgeoning Communist insurgency.

As Enrile spoke outside Manila’s downtown post office, he was surrounded by signs and placards that declared, “Vigilantes Support Rambo Enrile Against Communism,” “Better Dead Than Red” and--using Enrile’s nickname--”Go Johnny Go.”

Beneath his podium was a banner that declared, “Rambo, Save the Republic.”

The references to the two-fisted anti-Communist hero of American films alluded to a speech by Enrile last summer in which he threatened “to do a Rambo” if the Aquino administration failed to heed his calls for a stronger military policy against a Communist insurgency that has grown in strength to 22,000 armed regulars.

In his speeches Saturday and Sunday, Enrile said communism can be defeated only if Aquino stabilizes her government, strengthens the nation’s economy and cleans up tendencies toward corruption within her new government.

Enrile also stressed again and again that the military is solidly behind him, raising anew what Aquino’s aides consider veiled threats by Enrile that he could stage a coup against Aquino similar to the one that ousted Marcos last February.

At one point during Sunday’s outdoor rally, a military helicopter flew overhead.

“Don’t worry,” Enrile declared to the screaming approval of the crowd. “They are with us.

“And even if they aren’t with us, if you are with us, we will go on with our fight--even to hell.”