Philippine Troops Rout Rebels; Toll Put at 30

Government troops have dislodged Communist rebels entrenched in a village near Manila after fierce fighting that may have killed more than 30 people, the army said on Sunday.

Army officials said more than 30 people were feared killed on Saturday in 15 hours of fighting between troops and about 40 guerrillas in the rebel stronghold of San Juan, a village in Bataan province.

The rebels fled and are being hunted, army officials added. At least 13 were confirmed dead on Saturday, six of them government soldiers.

Pro-Aquino Rally

Meantime, in downtown Manila, about 30,000 supporters of embattled Philippine President Corazon Aquino staged a rally to re-launch “people power,” a popular movement that helped sweep her into the presidency last year.

Government employees at the rally carried banners reading “We Hate Coup Attempts” and “We Are Behind You, President Cory.”

“What we need for democracy to win is the kind of unity which we demonstrated last year,” Manila’s governor, Jejomar Binay, told the crowd, made up mostly of students. “It’s not too late for us to make a stand. Let us unite and fight for democracy in our land.”

It was the second pro-Aquino rally in as many days.

Leniency for Mutineers Urged

After the government supporters dispersed, about 1,000 people held a prayer rally in the seaside park and called on Aquino to show leniency to rebel Col. Gregorio (Gringo) Honasan and other leaders of the failed Aug. 28 mutiny, which left 53 people dead and 260 wounded.

But a noisy group supporting Ferdinand E. Marcos disrupted the proceedings, chanting and waving pictures of the deposed leader, who was ousted in in February, 1986.

Chanting “Marcos, Marcos still” and “Bring back Marcos,” the Marcos loyalists drowned out the voice of one of the leaders of the rally called to pray for the reunification of the country’s military, divided after the coup attempt.

The Honasan supporters, some wearing military fatigue T-shirts with Honasan’s picture, left when they saw the crowd of Marcos followers.

“We are not for Marcos. We do not have anything to do with this,” said one Honasan supporter.