The Philippines Tough Words from the Top

By Wayne Svoboda

A parade snaked through the streets of Davao City last week, but the occasion was hardly festive. As thousands of residents on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao watched, the marchers carried 105 white wooden coffins containing the remains of civilians said to have been murdered by the Communist-led New People's Army. Headed by Army Lieut. Colonel Franco Calida, the procession included 3,000 members of the Alsa Masa, one of more than a score of private paramilitary groups that are waging war against the N.P.A. Every so often, pallbearers opened a coffin and showed the remains to onlookers, who craned their necks for a glimpse and then quickly looked away. As relatives wept and church bells rang, a spectator hoisted a banner that read HOW MANY MORE?

The answer, alas, is many. Last week a tough-talking Corazon Aquino symbolically snapped the olive branch of peace she had extended to the Communist rebels throughout her 13-month presidency. "Police and military action, not social and economic reforms, is the immediate solution to terrorist acts," she told an audience at the Philippine Military Academy. Earlier that day she had pledged to "smite the foe on the left and the right." Said Aquino: "I want a string of honorable military victories." Her speech represented a dramatic shift in tactics aimed at ending both the 18-year Communist insurgency and coup threats by military officers loyal to former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Why the change in policy toward the rebels? Aquino had reluctantly concluded that her conciliatory approach had run out of steam. Since a 60-day cease-fire ended in early February, military officials said 170 N.P.A. rebels, 115 soldiers and police and 31 civilians had been killed. Pressure from her generals and Washington was also a factor. Most Reagan Administration officials believed that she was wasting her time negotiating with the Communists.

The N.P.A. reacted to Aquino's battle cry by offering a cease-fire during Easter and the congressional elections in May, but Manila rejected the proposal. At the same time, however, many army officers faulted Aquino for not providing a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan to accompany her tough words. "We are like a dog running in circles looking for its tail," said one general. He could hardly have been comforted by Defense Minister Rafael Ileto's announcement last week that he planned to keep 40% of the military's 125,000 troops out of sight until after the May elections, lest voters feel intimidated. Said Ileto: "If we escalate at this time, there will be a feeling of insecurity."

Aquino, to be sure, has sent mixed signals in the past. After first ordering that paramilitary groups be disbanded, she commissioned a study on how to integrate the forces into the army. Then, last week, Manila Mayor Mel Lopez announced that paramilitary units would be used to counter the recent spate of N.P.A. attacks in the capital. The move pleased the military, which is convinced that peace can be won only with the help of such groups. Some Aquino-appointed government officials, however, complain that the private armies often shoot first and ask questions later. It is a measure of the challenge facing Aquino that by giving her generals the tools they say they need to defeat the Communist rebels, she risks alienating some of her most ardent supporters.

With reporting by Nelly Sindayen/Manila