Taking Her Own Sweet Time

By Susan Tifft

She has been on the job for almost a month, but Philippine President Corazon Aquino is still proceeding carefully. Her deliberative approach was evident at the first full meeting of her Cabinet. The new President had been expected to take some forceful action during the session. But instead, after more than two hours, the only tangible result was that Aquino had formed three committees: one to study the question of declaring the Aquino administration a revolutionary government, another to tackle the reorganization of local government, and a third to chart new directions for the country's economy.

Aquino has been under pressure from some advisers to proclaim the new government revolutionary, a term that is not just descriptive but legally significant. Although Aquino was sworn in as President on Feb. 25, less than twelve hours before Ferdinand Marcos fled Manila, the National Assembly never formally recognized her as the winner of the Feb. 7 presidential election. As a result, Aquino technically presides over an illegal regime. By declaring her government revolutionary, she would free herself from Marcos' 1973 constitution. She could then dissolve the National Assembly and dismiss local officials loyal to the former President. The downside of the action is that it would leave Aquino open to charges that her government was nearly as authoritarian as the regime it replaced. Justice Minister Neptali Gonzales, who heads the committee studying the matter, is expected to recommend a course of action this week. He is known to favor the revolutionary route.

Aquino's consensus-building style was also apparent during a trip to Camp Aguinaldo, the military compound that serves as headquarters for the armed forces. There she met with about three dozen disgruntled lieutenant colonels in the air force. They complained that Aquino, who had promised to do away with military patronage, had arbitrarily promoted one of their less senior colleagues, Adelberto Yap, to full colonel status ahead of them. The President reportedly attempted to assuage the officers' feelings and agreed to study the issue of Yap's promotion.

Much of Aquino's time, however, was taken up trying to trace the Marcos fortune. Jovito Salonga, head of the Good Government Commission, charged with recouping Marcos' hidden wealth, has estimated the deposed leader's assets at between $5 billion and $10 billion. Some $800 million is located in a Swiss bank account. Approximately $350 million more is apparently tied up in five New York properties, including Manhattan's Crown Building and Lindenmere, a Long Island estate. In Texas, Marcos allegedly controls $13 million worth of property in Tarrant County, and has parcels of land valued at $19.2 million in Corpus Christi. It appears that there may also be as many as 200 properties in California owned by Marcos' associates and cronies, including houses in San Francisco and land in San Diego, as well as 30 holdings valued at $8 million in Los Angeles County that are owned by either Marcos' sister Fortuna Barba or by his former mistress Dovie Beams de Villagran.

Aquino last week ordered Philippine banks to freeze the financial holdings of Marcos, his wife Imelda and at least 47 relatives and friends, and asked other countries to follow suit. It is unlikely that Washington will comply, but two states have already acted to prevent Marcos from selling off his property. Early this month the New York State Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order barring the transfer or sale of the New York properties until March 19. Last week a New Jersey superior court temporarily stopped any transactions on two homes linked to Marcos: an 18th century mansion in Lawrence Township listed for sale at $825,000, and a house in Cherry Hill worth an estimated $160,000.

Last week Salonga brought his investigation to the U.S. and immediately had a pleasant surprise. After more than a week of legal jousting, the U.S. agreed to give the Aquino government and the House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, which is investigating the Marcos U.S. holdings, copies of the approximately 1,500 financial documents the former leader brought with him to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii when he fled. Less than a day later, however, a federal court in Hawaii held up the release of the papers. Subcommittee Chairman Stephen Solarz, a Democrat from New York, says he will subpoena the material if need be.

The legal justification for handing over the papers was apparently not watertight. Some Administration lawyers argued that the information could be provided only as part of a court proceeding. But the White House was concerned that delaying delivery of the documents would fuel critics' charges that it is shielding Marcos. "If Lech Walesa left Poland with a bunch of papers and the Polish government asked for copies, would we provide them?" one official asked. "I think not."

As the search for Marcos' wealth continued, the Aquino government turned its attention to the former President's principal legacy: economic chaos. The short-term picture is grim, acknowledges Economist Bernardo Villegas, deputy director of the Center for Research and Communication, a prominent Philippine think tank. The economy has not grown for two years, unemployment is high, and inflation could rise because of policies Marcos ordered to help him win re-election. But Villegas adds that now that the country has been freed from Marcos' grip, the Philippine economy will soon "snap back like a coiled spring." If the economy moves at the same deliberate pace as President Aquino, the spring may not snap back quite so fast. --By Susan Tifft. Reported by Edwin M. Reingold/Manila

With reporting by Edwin M. Reingold/Manila