Senators want Reagan to tell Marcos to go

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 10

Senators want Reagan to tell Marcos to go

NZPA-Reuter Washington

Three United States Senate members of the team that observed the Philippines elections have asked the President, Mr Ronald Reagan, to urge Ferdinand Marcos to resign because election fraud had thwarted the people’s expressed will. Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, issued the call at a news conference and said he spoke also for Senators David Boren, of Oklahoma, and David Pryor, of Arkansas, both Democrats. The three returned from Manila yesterday. Calling Mr Marcos “a doomed dictator,” Mr Levin said all the independent people they met, from Cardinal Jaime Sin

to Philippines citizen election observers and American businessmen in Manila, were convinced of the fraud. Because of that Mr Marcos has no credibility or legitimacy, Mr Levin said. Mr Reagan “should pick up the phone and clearly and unambiguously tell Mr Marcos it’s time for him to step aside because he no longer has any support in the United States.”

“Cardinal Sin and the American business leaders told us that if President Reagan urged President Marcos to step down clearly and unambiguously they felt he would step down,” he said. Asked if Mr Marcos’s backers might turn to violence if he was forced to

resign because of American pressure, Mr Levin said, “I don’t know any more (about what they might do) than I know what Mrs Aquino’s supporters might do if he doesn’t step down.” Mr Levin said he hoped Mr Reagan’s special ambassador in Manila, Philip Habib, had got the same message as the senators did and reported it back to Mr Reagan. He thought Mr Marcos would be out of power in a matter of months, and some of his colleagues on the election-observer team thought it might come sooner.

"Every week that Marcos is in power will see the growth of the Com-munist-backed insurgency. In fact, Marcos is the best

thing the Communists have going for them. “Dealing with Marcos any longer will undermine more than our moral position — dealing with this doomed dictator threatens our important bases at Clark and Subic.”

Mr Levin said the United States should hold up the economic aid planned for the Philippines this year, but should honour its contracts for the United States operations at Clark Air Base and Subic naval base.

He said the bases accounted for 10 per cent of the Philippines’ gross national product and many Filipinos dependent on the bases for their jobs.