Aquino Noncommittal on U.S. Bases in Philippines : Military: President Bush says he’s confident a settlement can be negotiated. Some believe it unlikely that more money can be found.

President Bush welcomed Philippine President Corazon Aquino to the White House on Thursday, saying he is “confident” that the United States will be able to negotiate a new, long-term agreement to preserve the two American military bases in the Philippines.

But Aquino, during a day-long series of meetings with Bush Administration officials and Congress, was much cooler about the future of Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, the two largest American military installations outside the continental United States.

“She was very noncommittal,” said California Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (R-Coronado), one of a group of congressmen who talked with the Philippine president. “She said (the outcome) would be determined by negotiations and by the manifestation of the will of the Philippine people and the American people.”

The United States has occupied the bases in the Philippines for most of this century. They are considered among the most strategically important American military facilities in the world. Subic Bay is the largest overseas ship-repair facility of the U.S. Navy, and Clark Air Base provides a vital stopover point for flights from the United States to the Mideast.

The current agreement permitting U.S. access to the Philippine bases expires in September, 1991. Over the last year, a number of Philippine legislative leaders have voiced opposition to renewing the base agreement. Aquino, who in the past has supported the U.S. presence, will remain in office until 1992 and recently said that she will not run for reelection.

During arrival ceremonies at the White House, Aquino avoided any mention of the U.S. bases. Instead, she pressed for greater U.S. economic help for the Philippines.

“We will raise, particularly, the means by which the Philippines and the United States can cooperate in more areas to our mutual economic benefit,” Aquino said.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard H. Solomon later said that Aquino asked Bush and other officials to allow more Philippine sugar and textiles into the United States and to help arrange for the U.S. armed forces in Asia to buy more agricultural supplies from the Philippines.

In contrast to Aquino, Bush and other U.S. officials stressed the importance of the negotiations over the future of the military bases, which are scheduled to begin in December. “We are confident (that the base talks) will mold a new and mutually beneficial, long-term security partnership in the future,” Bush said.

Last year, the Reagan Administration agreed to raise the amount of money that the United States pays to the Philippines in exchange for use of the bases from $180 million to $481 million per year. Solomon told reporters that the “constrained fiscal environment” in the United States makes it unlikely that the Bush Administration will be able to offer much more.