Communist Role Seen in Killings at Base : U.S. Will Not Retreat From Terrorists, Admiral Says in Manila

The commander of U.S. military forces in Asia and the Pacific on Friday blamed Communist terrorists for last month’s slaying of three Americans in the Philippines, adding that such “despicable, cold-hearted criminality” will only serve to bring the U.S. and Philippine governments closer together.

“The U.S. will not back down to terrorists,” declared Adm. Ronald Hays, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, in a speech to American businessmen here. “We will not falter in our efforts to assist our friends.”

Hays, who met with President Corazon Aquino earlier in the day and spent five hours with her Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Fidel V. Ramos on Thursday, added that he is “truly optimistic” that America’s two huge military bases will remain in the Philippines after 1991, when a current base agreement expires.

Early next year, the U.S. and Philippine governments will begin renegotiating the agreement that permits Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base to operate on Philippine soil. Key officials in Aquino’s government are known to oppose the retention of the bases. Officially, Aquino has said only that she will “keep all of my options open until 1991.”

In his speech, Hays reiterated that handling the nation’s Communist insurgency remains “an internal responsibility” of the Philippine government in which U.S. troops will not intervene.

U.S. military officials here consistently have stated that American military personnel have never actively participated in combatting the Philippines’ growing insurgency by an estimated 25,000 armed Communist regulars.

Soldiers Witnessed Killings

In charging 21 alleged guerrillas of the Communist New Peoples Army with last month’s coordinated ambush-slayings of three Americans, Philippine military authorities in Angeles City, which surrounds Clark Air Base, stated that the Americans were killed in retaliation for the death of a rebel commander in a fire-fight several miles from the base a few days before.

Police also quoted the suspects as saying after several days of interrogation that American soldiers were seen by witnesses at the scene of the attack and that wounded Philippine soldiers were later evacuated to Clark Air Base’s hospital.

The mutual defense agreement between the United States and the Philippines would permit direct American military intervention here if the Philippines is facing an external threat, and, following the admiral’s speech to the American Chamber of Commerce here, one businessmen asked Hays whether U.S. naval intelligence has confirmed recent reports of arms shipments from China and North Korea to the Philippine guerrillas, whose 19-year rebellion has remained largely a self-sufficient insurgent war.

“Our intelligence is unable thus far to document any introduction of arms from outside,” Hays said. “That is not to say it might not be occuring.”

But, Hays quickly added, “My impression after almost 72 hours here in Manila is that there is no shortage of rumors.”

Among the rumors that Hays sought strenuously to deny are analyses often printed in Philippine newspapers suggesting that the Pentagon does not fully endorse the U.S. State Department’s unequivocal support for the Aquino government.

“There is only one American policy,” the admiral declared. “It is the President’s policy. It calls for unwavering support for Mrs. Aquino. And the U.S. military and the State Department are unanimous in that support.”