February 8, 1992, Seattle Times / Chicago Tribune, Filipinos Pray They'll Survive Campaign, by Uli Schmetzer,

February 8, 1992, Seattle Times / Chicago Tribune, Filipinos Pray They'll Survive Campaign, by Uli Schmetzer, 

MANILA, Philippines - The priest who helped kick off the Philippine presidential race at an election rally last week summed up the climate in one short prayer:

"Dear Lord, protect us against guns and goons and gold, and do not allow us to sell our votes to the highest bidder."

His petition to the Almighty might have come a little late for this nation of 7,100 islands. Police estimate that at least 129 private armies, nearly all of them on the payroll of politicians, are being supplemented by communist and Islamic guerrillas who supply men and arms to provincial candidates campaigning for congressional seats.

The armed forces chief of staff, Gen. Lisandro Abadia, maintains that communism's collapse in Eastern Europe left financial support for the Filipino Marxist faction at "the rock-bottom of the barrel," and they're now charging $4,000 and up for a permit to campaign in the 60-odd municipalities they control.

While political hopefuls made their rounds last week, the "guns and goons" made theirs, too, with a wave of robberies, murders and about 16 kidnappings. Among those held for ransom are two Americans, Michael Barnes, a businessmen, and Avery Duane Drown, 63, a retired army officer.

As for the presidential candidates, it's a lineup of mostly familiar faces with a fresh coat of makeup.

Filipinos tend to forgive and forget. No one laughs - out loud, at least - when Imelda Marcos or her late husband's chief crony, millionaire businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, pledge faith in democracy, a better life for the poor, and a national economic turnaround based on their financial acumen.

"To those who lost hope, I say keep the faith. I will be a father to all regions and provinces. I will help the weak," promises Cojuangco, considered the front-runner to succeed Corazon Aquino in the May 11 elections.

One of his first commitments as president would be to repatriate the corpse of his mentor and Imelda's husband, Ferdinand Marcos. The body has been in Hawaii since 1989. Aquino has refused to allow the exiled dictator home dead or alive.

Cojuangco is campaigning for the presidency of a country from which he remains officially banned. After flying into exile with Marcos in 1986, he returned clandestinely in 1989. Since then the courts have found him innocent of 38 corruption charges, and he has managed to reclaim much of an industrial empire based on a Marcos-era concession on coconuts, the nation's main agrarian product.

Miriam Defensor Santiago, a fiery 46-year-old attorney, has promised her first act as president will be to build detention cells for corrupt officials.

A University of Michigan law school graduate, she lacks the financial clout of her competitors, but her passionate crusade against institutionalized graft and corruption has won her popularity among the poor.

A 67-year-old housewife named Monica Siap Hegna Abarina is campaigning on a platform of amnesty for all prisoners, promotion by one rank for all military personnel except the chief of staff and creation of a foundation to give spiritual assistance to the dead.

And Hadji Insam Digadong Janggayan, a reformed Islamic guerrilla fighter, canvasses for votes mainly on his claim that he is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world's wealthiest men.

No one is ruling out the prospects of Imelda Marcos, who remains under indictment on 54 charges associated with accusations that she and her husband stole $5 billion during the dictator's two decades in power.

"You and I will make this nation great again," the former first lady said Thursday at the opening of her new Marcos Party headquarters in Makati, Manila's financial district.

Imelda Marcos portrayed herself a victim of vindictive persecution by Aquino and as a lifelong advocate of democracy.

But material opportunism is never far from the campaign trail.

Outside, a retired truck driver named Ernesto Angeles, summed up his feelings: "I just hope Imelda pays us some money for our support. It's money she took from us, isn't it? So we can take it without guilt and still vote for someone else."