Troops on Alert in Philippines as Strike Looms

Philippine troops were placed on combat alert today as radical unions backed by Communist guerrillas gathered forces for a strike Wednesday against industry and transport.

Leaders of moderate transport unions asked President Corazon Aquino for added security because of threats by Communist hit squads to attack their drivers if they defy the general strike.

Aquino said she had ordered police to be firm in handling violence during the strike, Romualdo Maranan, the head of one drivers’ union, said today.

In stepped-up violence around the capital ahead of the strike, leftist rebels bombed the offices of Caltex and Shell oil companies in Manila, causing minor damage and no casualties, police said.

Leaders of the leftist May One Movement union said they had mobilized their 700,000 members around the country to take part in the strike but will focus their efforts in Manila and in the key provincial cities of Cebu and Davao.

The union is demanding a rollback of fuel prices and a $1.50 increase in the basic daily wage, now $3.55.

Moderate unions held off plans to join the strike, saying they will wait for the outcome of negotiations with government wage boards.

Armed forces chief Gen. Renato de Villa placed the country’s 160,000-strong military on red alert, apparently fearing that right-wing army rebels might take advantage of Wednesday’s planned stoppage to launch attacks.

Last December’s sixth and bloodiest army coup attempt against Aquino occurred on the eve of a planned strike.

The Communist-led National Democratic Front, a leftist umbrella group of rebel organizations, today announced full backing for the strike and called on businessmen to heed the workers’ wage demands.