Solarz Brands Enrile Actions as ‘Unseemly’

The congressman who has most concerned himself with Philippine affairs said today that Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile’s criticism of the government he serves is “utterly unseemly” and threatens Philippine efforts to seek foreign investments.

Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific affairs, said, however, that he thinks Enrile will soon be booted out of President Corazon Aquino’s Cabinet.

Solarz, in an interview on the “CBS Morning News,” also urged the Reagan Administration to make it publicly clear that the United States will have nothing to do with Enrile if he attempts to seize power militarily in the Philippines.

Solarz said Aquino has the support of the Filipino people and the U.S. government and “I am confident that she will be able to surmount the difficulties that she faces and overcome these various challenges to her power.”

“I think this is utterly unseemly,” he said of public criticisms by Enrile. “I think it is completely counterproductive. I think it creates problems for the Philippines in terms of the international image of the country and the efforts on the part of the new president to elicit investment from the United States and other countries, but my guess is that he is not going to be in the Cabinet much longer.”