Marcos sworn in to head new Assembly

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 8

Marcos sworn in to head new Assembly

NZPA-Reuter Manila, President Ferdinand Marcos has been sworn ini as the Philippines' first! Prime Minister at. the opening of the country’s new; legislature after nearly six! years of martial law.

President Marcos, aged 60, i who declared martial law ini September, 1972, to check!: what he said was a state of]' rebellion, will initially also: preside over the 200-member; interim body. Under constitutional i amendments last year, Mr Marcos is both President and Prime Minister to pro- ; vide a gradual shift from ] Presidential to Parliamentary government. The Assembly, the coun-l try’s first legislative body , since martial law dissolved I!

; the previous two-chamber I (Congress in 1972, is seen as! a test of how far President] Marcos is prepared to relax] his one-man rule. The inaugural session of; the Assembly coincided with’ the eightieth anniversary of; Philippine independence; from Spanish rule, marked; throughout the 7100 islands!

by the pealing of church i bells and the sounding ofi sirens. In moves over the last; week to improve the politi-| cal climate for the opening] of the new Assembly. Presi-i dent. Marcos ordered the re-; lease of hundreds of political! detainees and on Sunday he! amended the Philippine am-1

j nesty laws in a way that would enable him to free his I arch political rival, Benigno (Aquino. ( Soon after the Assembly met for the first time, the I Chief Justice of the Philipjpines (Mr Fred Ruiz Castro)! (who comes from the same! (home town as the President,] swore in Mr Marcos as Prime Minister. I The Assembly was largely! ’chosen in controversial elec’tions last April, when 1651 seats were filled. Other; members are elected by agri-! cultural and labour organisa-j tions, while some unelected i Cabinet Ministers are ap-i pointed members. , In a departure from usual Parliamentary procedure. Mr ] Marcos will preside over the (Assembly’s initial debates, ! including the national Bud(get debate, until a Speaker (is elected and given an op-j portunity to familiarise him-1 self with Parliamentary! procedure. President Marcos has said! he will devolve his legisla-j tive powers under martial! law. but the new con-' stitution also allows him to] legislate by decree alongside! or instead of the . interim! body at any time he] chooses. He may also dissolve the : body at will if he feels it is not functioning the way he] thinks it should. President Marcos has said! he will stop issuing decrees! once the interim body is (I convened and has started toil

( function, but will have to s j use his power if the Assemsibly does not act properly. Informed sources said Par/iliament was expected initially to concentrate on the - Budget and the Government )! programme. ?! A group of prominent , | lawyers, former judges and ; politicians opposed to President Marcos. yesterday d called on the Government to • dismantle American military >1 bases in the Philippines. •| The Civil Liberties Union ■ of the Philippines had earl- ■ iier suggested that the Philipijpine Government ‘‘insist on ■it h e immediate dismantlement of these bases ! and, if the United States should refuse, to consider] these bases formally as an] . act of belligerent occupation,, raise this matter formally at! the United Nations, and l j there denounce America as ; guilty of aggression and imjperialism.” The Philippines was likely] ito be involved in a nuclear Iwar “with the escalation of’ ’America n-Soviet confrontation, particularly in; ]the Indian Ocean” through] jthe presence of the bases, (chiefly an air base at Clark! (Field, a naval base in Subic,! land some' communications; 'stations, the group said. It noted that China and; (the Association of South-; (Asian Nations wanted the] I United States to remain in] the region “to maintain a] (balance of power,” but said; (that was no reason at all.