Philippine Government

It is unfortunate that in his enthusiasm to paint a doomsday scenario in the Philippines, W. Scott Thompson (“Aquino Fritters Away a Powerful Hand,” Op-Ed Page, Oct. 9) conveniently overlooks clear and vital inferences which he implicitly admits in his article.

He fails to recognize that the creditable rate of economic growth and the Philippine government’s success in reversing the momentum of the leftist insurgency--both of which he concedes--were not and cannot be achieved in isolation from President Corazon Aquino’s viable program and public support for the country’s leadership.

Neither are the problems isolated from one another. Addressing the insurgency is as much a task of enhancing the people’s livelihood as it is a contest in the battlefield. It is no coincidence that the government is making strides on both fronts. Nobody ever said it would be quick or easy, but Aquino has never wavered from the conviction that the rebuilding of the integrity of political institutions and processes was the prerequisite not only to stability, but of moving forward in the right direction.

But rather than view these developments as they are--direct results of the government’s firm commitment to the consolidation of the democratic gains won by the Filipino people in February, 1986--Thompson instead gives vent to his nostalgia for the use of dictatorial powers. He may have already forgotten, but the Filipino people are still paying for the debts and destruction brought on them by a dictatorship that promised, as Thompson puts it, “to shake up the polity with real reform.” People Power was a clear and courageous stand, and President Aquino has wisely taken heed that Filipinos would rather labor in freedom than gamble on one-man rule.

Sadly, Thompson gives credence to the false alarms being peddled by the power-hungry. His conjecture that rebel “bombings and assassinations . . . are beginning to terrorize Manila” is plainly out of proportion with current conditions.

It is ironic that the far right which Thompson is egging on to more mischief is now impatient with a democratic government hard at work and succeeding, if gradually, at undoing the damage wrought by the dictatorship they were so patient with.

GIL ROY D. GORRE

Press Representative

Philippine Consulate General

Los Angeles