Dannemeyer Praises Aquino, Doubts Future : Congressman, Just Back From Philippines, Says She Wants Democracy but Can’t Retain Power

U.S. Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) said Monday that his weeklong trip to the Philippines left him believing that President Corazon Aquino wants democracy but unconvinced that she can retain power.

At a Santa Ana press conference, the conservative congressman also criticized some of the economic moves made by the Aquino government and her freeing of Communists from jail as part of a two-month truce.

“I sensed a sincere desire for democracy in the president’s voice and felt her strong Christian faith, which has undoubtedly served to comfort her during these times,” Dannemeyer said. “She’s not tainted by cynics who would say she’s in it for herself.”

Aquino, whose husband was slain at Manila Airport as he returned from exile in 1983, came to power last February when Ferdinand Marcos fled the country.

Asked who financed the trip, the congressman said it was paid for by the International Basketball Assn., which he said was a group trying to set up a professional grouping of teams with players who are 6 feet, 4 inches and under. Dannemeyer said a friend of his in Fullerton, whom he did not identify, was active in the association and had urged him to join the trip.

He said that basketball was an “avid sport” in the Philippines and that the international association reached an agreement with basketball players there to join the group.

Dannemeyer said he had “concern” whether Aquino could hang on to the presidency at a time of economic problems, rumors of coups and Communist opposition. He said it was questionable that she could last.

The next major test for Aquino is scheduled for Feb. 2, when voters express their views of the proposed national constitution that she supports. It guarantees her a six-year term of office.

A coalition of opposition groups is hoping for a strong vote against the constitution in balloting that has, in effect, become a vote of confidence in her government.

The coalition called Aquino’s truce with the Communists a “charade,” and Dannemeyer used the same word to attack the Communists’ claim to “legitimacy and populism.”

“Personally, I think it was very naive for Mrs. Aquino to let Communists out of jail because they will go out and work their mischief in the countryside,” Dannemeyer said.

Pointing to the country’s $27-billion foreign debt--in a nation where 60% of the people earn $120 a month or less--Dannemeyer said he urged the finance minister to “drive the hardest bargain he could” with international lenders.

But the only solution to the debt crisis of the Philippines, Mexico and other Third World nations lies in the United States going back to the gold standard, which would reduce expectations of future inflation in this country and throughout the world and drive down interest rates, the congressman said.