Election Up to Parliament, Marcos Says

MANILA â€”  President Ferdinand E. Marcos, reversing position, said Tuesday that he will let the Philippine Parliament decide whether to hold a special presidential election in January and added that he thinks the vice presidency should be on the ballot.

Marcos’ statements further muddied an issue that has been unclear since he announced Sunday on the ABC-TV program, “This Week With David Brinkley,� that he would call a special presidential election.

He later set the balloting for Jan. 17. He said then that he could order the election through a presidential decree, but on Tuesday, he said the decision will be left to Parliament, now controlled by his ruling New Society Movement party, or KBL.

The Philippine constitution provides for special presidential elections in four instances--if the president dies, is incapacitated, resigns or is impeached. Marcos suggested that a fifth reason could be established in law that would allow special elections to be called if a president deemed it necessary to prevent “fundamental issues� from upsetting the stability of the government.

Won’t Use Decree

The president’s statement Tuesday said, however, that he would not use his decree powers to change the law.

“We will throw everything to the Batasang Pambansa (Parliament), and it is up to the Batasang to decide whether to hold the special elections or not,� he said.

The KBL will discuss the election procedures in a caucus Friday. The plan would then be placed before the Parliament, which reconvenes on Monday.

The opposition Tuesday continued to demand that Marcos resign the presidency, giving up the powers of the incumbent, if he wants to hold a special election.

The United Nationalist Democratic Organization (Unido), whose president, former Sen. Salvador Laurel, is an opposition front-runner for an election, called for the president’s resignation. Liberal Party leader Jovito Salonga agreed.

If Marcos did resign, a caretaker government headed by the Speaker of the assembly, KBL stalwart Nicanor Yniguez, would rule during the election campaign.

Speculation on Maneuvers

Opposition figures speculated privately that Marcos might engineer the appointment of his brother-in-law, Benjamin Romualdez, who recently resigned as ambassador to the United States, to the Speaker’s post, keeping power in family hands should a resignation become necessary.

Many opposition politicians have said that Washington pressured Marcos into calling a presidential election, which was not scheduled until May, 1987. U.S. officials have consistently denied it and, in a statement issued Monday in Washington, the State Department said that any vote must be held “according to established constitutional processes�--suggesting that Marcos might have to step down from office or postpone the January vote.

Unido, a coalition of eight opposition parties, said the Philippines needs new leadership but it “condemns the Marcos-style election as a rank violation of the constitution and a manifest scheme to manipulate the electoral process to perpetuate himself in power.�

Marcos had earlier said that only he and the opposition candidate for president would be listed on the ballot because “Marcos alone� is the issue. But, in a statement released late Tuesday, he said he has changed his mind because “it is now apparent that the complexion (of opposition criticism) has changed from Marcos to that of his entire administration and his entire program of government.�

Issue of Succession

Opposition politicians had decried his initial decision to place only the presidency on the ballot, saying it would leave the question of succession unclear no matter who won the race for a six-year term, and thus would contribute to political instability. The vice presidency has been vacant since Marcos declared martial law in 1972.

“The stability of government through the succession mechanism can only be established if there is a vice presidency,� Marcos said.

Marcos, 68, did not name his choice for a running mate. He has held power by himself for so long that there has been little speculation about who might fill the No. 2 spot on the ballot of his party.

The president’s critics have charged that he intends to put his wife, Imelda, in the second spot for the scheduled 1987 elections in order to maintain the family’s hold on power should he die in office. Imelda Marcos was quoted Tuesday by the newspaper Asahi in Tokyo, where she was visiting, as saying she would not run for either president or vice president.

Other possible vice presidential candidates mentioned in political circles are Deputy Prime Minister Jose Rono, the KBL leader in Parliament; Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, and Eduardo Cojuangco, a close friend of Marcos--critics call him a crony--who controls the Philippines coconut industry and is board chairman of its biggest business, the San Miguel Corp.

Meanwhile, the opposition continued to protest that a special presidential election would be too costly, arguing that if Marcos wants an early contest it should be combined with the local elections scheduled for next May. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce made the same argument.