Shultz Blasts Failure to Aid Philippines : Pleads With Congress to OK $15.2 Billion for Overseas Spending

Secretary of State George P. Shultz told Congress today that the United States has failed to live up to its obligations in the Philippines and that Filipinos will remember the failure.

“We’ve done ourselves a disservice,” he said. “We haven’t come up with the money.”

Shultz was pleading with members of the House Appropriations Committee to approve $15.2 billion in overall overseas spending.

“It is in our strategic interest to do all we can to support the efforts of President (Corazon) Aquino’s government to restore democracy, stability and prosperity to the Philippines,” he said. “That will take money on our part--but we will pay a far higher cost later on if we do not act effectively now.”

‘They’re Signaling . . . to Us’

He said the United States, which leases military bases in the Philippines, has promised to provide military and economic help.

“When we don’t, they remember,” he said. “They’re signaling that to us now.”

Shultz called reduction in foreign aid by Congress a very bad thing to do. He said that there is a “vicious communist insurgency” in the Philippines and that the armed forces need money to supply themselves and to fight effectively. The armed forces have become more effective under Aquino, he said.

He denounced congressional cuts in the foreign spending budget proposed by the Reagan Administration.

“If these massive cuts are continued this year, they will directly threaten our ability to exercise effective leadership in the world,” he said.

‘Most Urgent Challenge’

“This budget crisis is perhaps the most urgent--and least recognized --foreign policy challenge facing our nation today,” he said.

Shultz said overseas programs dropped from $22.9 billion in fiscal 1985 to $19.1 billion last year and $17.3 billion this year.

“Let me be blunt,” Shultz told the subcommittee. “These Draconian budget reductions have been devastating. They are forcing us to play Russian roulette as we shortchange our various foreign policy interests.”

Shultz said sharp cuts in appropriations in the last few years have forced the State Department to close posts abroad and weakened U.S. foreign policy.

Consulate Threatened

To illustrate his point, Shultz said the “drastic shortfalls” have caused the State Department to consider closing the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, West Germany.

At the same time, Shultz said, U.S. foreign policy is succeeding around the world. “Nobody speaks of communism as the wave of the future anymore,” Shultz said. “We have the winning hand.”

He cited the overwhelming approval in the Philippines of a new constitution as an example of democracy’s success. “We have a situation in the world where things are going our way,” Shultz said.