World Notes THE PHILIPPINES

The prelude to the latest round of talks on the future of the huge U.S. Navy and Air Force bases in the Philippines was routine: communist insurgents blew up a Voice of America transmitter, while right-wing military rebels were ! blamed for detonating a bomb at a Manila bank.

But when the two sides finally sat down together at the Central Bank building in the capital, U.S. negotiator Richard Armitage offered a new tack. Instead of focusing on Washington's inability to pay more than the current $481 million a year in rent, Armitage declared, "The days of a very large presence of U.S. sailors and airmen in the Philippines are coming to an end. What remains for us to determine is the rate at which this presence will be reduced."

The new U.S. tactic is to play for time: Armitage argued for a 10-year phase-down and continued U.S. access to Clark air base and Subic Bay naval base. In reply, Manila's negotiators called for the return of Clark by late next year, after which the Aquino government says it hopes to turn the facility into a civilian airport.