Reagan Toughens View of Marcos

WASHINGTON--The Philippines is the latest case in point: Ronald Reagan can change his mind.

While awaiting a report from special U.S. envoy Philip Habib, the President already has shifted his analysis of the election in Manila.

After telling the nation Feb. 11 that fraud and violence may have occurred "on both sides," Reagan directly blamed the party of President Ferdinand E. Marcos five days later for most of the irregularities.

When Habib returns next week, the shift could pick up speed. U.S. aid could be reduced, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth recalled or Marcos urged to arrange his own succession or to share power with the opposition.

"We have a stake in freedom, we have a stake in democracy," Secretary of State George Shultz told the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday. "Let's put that first, even above the bases."

He referred to Clark Air Base and Subic Bay, the main forward point for the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet.

The embattled Marcos had drawn a rare bit of strength from Reagan's initial evenhanded remarks. Marcos' opponents were said to be dispirited by the suggestion of fraud in challenger Corazon Aquino's camp.

Reagan's reversal added to Marcos' mounting woes. His opponents drew encouragement in their effort to drive him from office.

White House aides said the president had been getting more information all the time. But that may not explain the shift in emphasis. With Reagan, who has a long history of pragmatism despite a deep-seated conservative philosophy, it's often hard to tell.

He may have changed his mind about Marcos and the way the election was conducted. He may have been persuaded by the stream of moderate-to-conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill who are lining up against Marcos and would hold up U.S. aid to the Philippines.

A Marcos victory in a demonstrably clean election would have appealed to the President. The Philippine leader represented a known quantity and the stability Reagan prizes in the strategic Pacific region.

But the furor over vote-rigging and Marcos' reluctance to agree to reforms posed an embarrassment to the politician in the White House and sparked disorder in Manila. So Reagan could be getting ready to cut Marcos off.

In foreign policy, Reagan evidently subscribes to an old rule of diplomacy: never admit you are changing your position even while you are changing your position.

On the international front closest to home, however, Reagan is standing firm. His policy on Nicaragua remains based on the judgment that the Sandinistas are Communists posing a threat to U.S. security.

Despite reservations in Congress about the fidelity of the insurgent Contras to democracy, Reagan is determined to help them blast their way to power, or at least a share of it.

Renewing his campaign to secure military financing for the rebels, the president on Tuesday called for the lifting of restrictions on such assistance. Moreover, Reagan said, he had in mind more than "Band-Aids and mosquito nets."

Meanwhile, a House panel voted unanimously yesterday to halt direct U.S. aid to the government of President Marcos of the Philipines and to channel future humanitarian assistance and economic aid through the Roman Catholic church and other private groups.

Most military aid would go into an escrow account to await "a legitimate government...which commands the support of the people of the Philippines," the bill said.

In voting 9-0 in favor of the legislation, members of the subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs brushed aside objections from Reagan administration officials, who wanted the panel to wait until presidential emissary Philip Habib returns from Manila to report on his findings.

Stressing their bipartisan support, four Republicans joined five Democrats in favor of the bill.

Rep. Stephen J. Solarz, D-N.Y., the subcommittee chairman, said the bill would not be taken up by the full House Foreign Affairs Committee until after Habib returns, so that his findings would be given ample consideration before final passage.

But Solarz said he felt it was important to act quickly to send a signal to the Philippines that "we will not countenance a stolen election."

Two possible ways of getting a legitimate government, Solarz told reporters later, would be through a new election or "procedures to install the person who clearly won the election...I'm sure the Filipinos have the ingenuity to find a way."

He said the "dwindling ban" of Marcos supporters who should tell him he cannot survive without American supoport and should into retirement while there is still time."

A day earlier, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bipartisan, non-binding resolution declaring that the Philippines presidential election was fraudulent and does not express the sentiments of Filipinos.

Solarz said he had been assured by an intermediary earlier in the day that the legislation has the support of presidential opposition candidate Corazon Aquino, who has charged that fraud by Marcos and his supporters deprived her of victory in the Feb. 7 election.

Solarz, chairman of the House subcommittee, said his bill would channel humanitarian and economic assistance through the Catholic church and other non-government organizations in the Philippines, while placing military aid in an escrow account until "a legitimate government" came to power.

He said the bill would "send a message to the Philippine people that the United States has withdrawn its support for the Marcos regime while continuing its support and assistance for the Philippine people."