‘We Are Moderates, Caught in a Sandwich’ : Goals in Rural Luzon: Jobs, Peace

MEXICO, Philippines â€”  Pablo Mateo, a rice farmer here on the central Luzon plain, on Thursday sized up the two-day-old presidency of Corazon Aquino in one word: hope.

“Maybe they will get a job,� Mateo said, speaking of his 50,000 fellow citizens in this community.

There have been hard times in Mexico for years. Some of the townspeople hired out to work for American construction firms in Vietnam during the war. More recently, they have gone to labor recruiters for jobs in Saudi Arabia.

“I worked in Saudi for four years,� Mateo, 62, said over a table at the streetside Macabal Cafe. “Now there are not so many jobs there.�

‘Looking for Cure’

Of the deposed president, Ferdinand E. Marcos, he reflected, “if this was illness, we were looking for a cure. Twenty years in administration, and it kept getting worse.

“I think even Mrs. Aquino will not immediately solve this problem. Maybe after four years,� Mateo said.

The news of Marcos’ downfall reached this Pampunga province town on Channel 4 television, a government station that Aquino’s military supporters seized Monday.

“My missus was watching,� said Javier Hizon, 40, leader of the opposition United Nationalist Democratic Organization in Mexico. “She let out a shout. We were surprised.�

But he and others here have been working to unseat Marcos. They observed the boycott that Aquino had called against businesses owned by Marcos’ friends.

“People were changing from San Miguel beer to White Castle,� Hizon said, referring to a local whisky.

Driven From Palace

Before the boycott had an effect, a military mutiny led by Marcos’ defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the armed forces vice chief of staff, snowballed when tens of thousands of civilians joined to protect the rebel troops in a stunning exercise of what Aquino called People Power. The largely nonviolent revolution drove Marcos from his palace Tuesday.

“We took part here in Mexico,� Hizon said. “When we heard the radio call for volunteers, to help guard Camp Crame (where the mutiny was centered), people came to my house and asked me to lead there. We went down to Manila in cars and jeepneys (small buses) and joined the vigil.

“We’re not rich people here, but we took up a collection for the transportation and brought along our own.�

Hizon returned to Mexico after one day and said his patio was filled with people preparing to go back to Manila, 50 miles to the south, when the news of Marcos’ flight reached them.

‘Some Still Afraid’

“All my visitors were cheering,� he said, but there was no dancing in the streets here, as there was in Manila.

“This town is not the same as other towns,� Hizon said. “Some people are still afraid.�

The citizens of Mexico have been caught in the middle of battles between guerrillas of the Communist-led New People’s Army--its slogans are painted on many walls here--and the paramilitary Civilian Home Defense Force.

“We are the moderates, caught in a sandwich,� Hizon said. “We hope with Cory (Aquino) there will be peacetime. Too many in our town died already because of the Marcos dictatorship.�

Like provincial towns across the country, Mexico watched dramatic events in Manila from the sidelines, except for the volunteers for the Camp Crame vigils. The town’s 10-man police force and the officers of the paramilitary Philippine Constabulary who patrol here were on alert but did not take an active part on either side in the mutiny.

Depend on Government

Filipinos in the provinces tend to leave high-level struggles to Manila, since they are heavily dependent on the central government, whoever wins.

At Municipal Hall, Juanita Rivera and her fellow clerks in the treasurer’s office said they hope that Aquino’s presidency will stop the violence. But Juanita Pimbol, a Bureau of Internal Revenue agent who works across the aisle, accused the treasurer’s clerks of being post-victory converts.

“A week ago, they were Marcos supporters,� she said. “I’m the only real Cory person in this hall.�

Pimbol said that she too had joined the vigils in Manila.

“Every time the radio announced that tanks were coming, I’d pray,� she said. “Sometimes I cried. They are all happy now, even those Marcoses,� she said, pointing across the aisle.

Manila Vigils

Susan Soriano, an 18-year-old store clerk, also joined the vigils in Manila. She went to Camp Crame.

“We weren’t afraid,� she said. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.�

Her most lasting impression stamped her as a small-town provincial girl.

“I’ve never seen that many people in my life,� she said.

No one interviewed here expressed fear that the fighting would spread to Mexico. And some in this town, which Aquino carried by 67% in the election, saw merit in Marcos’ 20 years of rule. Even Pimbol, the die-hard Aquino supporter.

“I don’t think Mr. Marcos is as bad as the others say,� she said. “Although our salary is low, anytime he promised us a raise it came through.�

Purificacion Rivera, the town’s assessor, said she was saddened by the way the Marcos regime came to an end, in furtive flight by helicopter from the palace grounds while thousands pounded at the gates. “But because of People Power I was happy, too,� she said.