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Marcos Dying, Unable to Stand Trial, Lawyer Claims

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Times Staff Writer

Exiled Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos is dying and unable to stand trial on charges that he plundered his national treasury and defrauded U.S. banks, his lawyer asserted Wednesday in federal court.

Marcos, 71, has been hospitalized three times in Honolulu over the past five weeks, most recently last Sunday for what St. Francis Medical Center described as pneumonia and bronchial asthma.

“President Marcos is in mortal danger,” attorney Richard A. Hibey wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan. “ . . . We have been advised by the last doctor who examined President Marcos that he is dying.” The letter was dated Tuesday and presented in a brief hearing Wednesday.

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During the hearing, prosecutors dropped their demand that Marcos journey to New York for his arraignment and agreed to allow him to enter his plea in Hawaii. Hibey, however, countered that even that concession was not enough in light of Marcos’ deteriorating health and contended that the entire case against the deposed Philippine president must be abandoned.

‘A Genuine Concern’

“What began as merely a request to hold Mr. Marcos’ arraignment in Honolulu rather than New York has evolved into a genuine concern for his life,” Hibey wrote.

Keenan had previously been scheduled to begin hearings today to determine whether Marcos should be arraigned in New York. Now, the focus of those sessions, which are expected to last beyond the end of the month, will be broadened significantly.

“I have to decide whether he can be arraigned, where he can be arraigned and what his prognosis is,” Keenan said.

Prosecutors had initially been skeptical of Marcos’ claims of dire illness. Francis Weld, a court-appointed cardiologist from New York, examined Marcos last October and pronounced him fit to travel to his arraignment, despite a number of ailments.

Marcos repeatedly “cried and grimaced in pain” during the three-hour examination, Weld reported, but he concluded that the cries were emotional or “factitious”--a term that means faked.

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Asst. U.S. Atty. Charles LaBella conceded in court Wednesday that with the latest reports, the government is now convinced that Marcos is ill enough to prevent a trip to New York.

In his letter, Hibey recounted a phone call he received from Marcos, in which the deposed president spoke with “a whistling wheeze . . . a clear clacking rattle. In my experience, I have never heard such sounds before.”

Hibey also presented a report from Dr. Robert S. Eliot of Denver, who wrote that Marcos had been unable to undergo even a “low challenge” stress test on Monday.

“At the moment, his situation borders on critical and the prognosis, in my view, is guarded,” Eliot wrote. He also noted that Marcos was receiving 14 medications.

The Philippine government has estimated that Marcos and his associates siphoned off more than $2 billion in public funds during the 20 years he governed the country. Marcos, whose annual salary was only $3,000, had vast holdings overseas. He and his wife, Imelda, maintained an opulent life style.

He fled the Philippines in disgrace after the February, 1986, elections that he was accused of rigging and has lived in Hawaii since then. While the U.S. government allowed Marcos to remain in this country, it has also pursued its own set of allegations against him.

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Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were indicted last October on racketeering charges, which included accusations of stealing more than $100 million from their country and diverting it into real estate and other investments abroad. They are also charged with fraudulently borrowing $165 million from U.S. banks to buy or refinance buildings in Manhattan.

Imelda Marcos pleaded innocent to the charges and was released on $5-million bail last November.

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