Killings Mar Quayle Visit to Manila : 2 U.S. Civilians Shot Shortly Before Vice President Arrives

Gunmen believed to be Communist rebels ambushed and killed two American civilians working at a U.S. air base today shortly before Vice President Dan Quayle arrived to discuss the future of U.S. military installations here, police said.

As Quayle and his wife, Marilyn, arrived, hundreds of leftists burned his effigy and an American flag while chanting, “Bases out! Quayle go home!”

A Pentagon statement in Washington said the victims were civilian employees of Ford Aerospace Corp., a contractor at Camp O’Donnell. The camp is a U.S.-run facility about 50 miles north of Manila and 12 miles from the U.S. Clark Air Base.

Presidential Guard Killed

Also Tuesday, gunmen killed a member of President Corazon Aquino’s presidential guard, about a mile from where she will meet with Quayle on Wednesday.

The attacks followed a series of bombings this month and came amid growing opposition to U.S. military installations in the Philippines.

The Americans, whose names were not immediately released, slowed their car as they approached a dump truck and a jeep blocking a highway near Capas, 60 miles north of Manila, police said. Six men sprang from the jeep and riddled the Americans’ car with gunfire, according to Police Lt. Pepito Pimentel.

The assailants then opened the car door and pumped bullets into the victims, Pimentel said. The attack occurred about 5 p.m.

Col. Florentino Amorabon, a spokesman for the Philippine Constabulary in central Luzon island, said the assassins were believed to be members of the New Peoples Army, which operates in the area.

In April, rebels killed U.S. Army Col. James Rowe as he was driving to the headquarters of the U.S. Joint Military Assistance Group in Quezon City, near Manila. In October, 1987, rebels killed three Americans in simultaneous attacks outside Clark Air Base.

The United States operates Clark, the Subic Bay naval base and four smaller installations in the Philippines, but there are increased calls for an end to the U.S. military presence.

Quayle arrived in Manila about 7:30 p.m. from Japan for a visit expected to focus on the future of the bases, which operate under a lease that expires in September, 1991.

Acting Foreign Secretary Manuel Yan said Quayle was bringing a letter from President Bush believed to include a proposal to begin talks on extending the lease.

Noisy Demonstration

Two hours before Quayle’s arrival, about 150 members of the League of Filipino Students and the Youth for Nationalism and Democracy reached the airport terminal and began a noisy demonstration against the visit.

Protesters shouted, “Quayle go home, bases out!” and “Yankees go home!” They carried banners reading, “Quayle visit--a curse.”

After negotiations with police, the group agreed to pull back about half a mile away along the main road into Manila. Police estimated that the crowd grew to nearly 1,000 by the time Quayle arrived.