Aquino in Geneva, Hopes to Regain Some Marcos Money

Philippine President Corazon Aquino, making the second trip outside her country since a coup attempt last August, arrived Monday on a six-day visit to Switzerland and Italy.

Aquino is in Europe to seek aid for her heavily indebted nation and to speed up the recovery of an estimated $1 billion in embezzled funds that former President Ferdinand E. Marcos allegedly stashed in Swiss banks.

Her quest for economic assistance is to be supported by assurances on union rights and land reform in a speech she is giving today to the annual meeting of the U.N. International Labor Organization.

On leaving Manila, Aquino said that the Philippines would be in “good hands” during her absence, despite a weekend raid on national police headquarters.

Authorities placed the 159,000-member armed forces on full alert to thwart any attempt to destabilize the government while she is away. Aquino will fly Wednesday to Bern, where she will meet with Swiss officials in an effort to speed up the recovery of money Marcos and his cronies reportedly stashed in Swiss banks during 20 years in power.

The Swiss government ordered the funds frozen in 1986, and lawyers for the Aquino government have been fighting for the money to be returned “to the people.”

Before Aquino’s arrival in Geneva, a lawyer for Marcos appealed a Swiss court order to repatriate an initial $49 million of the funds.

In Manila, meanwhile, relatives of Marcos said they will transfer the body of his mother, Josefa Marcos, to the family’s home province for burial later this week, almost six weeks after her death.

The family had postponed the burial in the hope that her son would be allowed to return.