Aquino Fears Truce May Not End Clashes : Says There Will Be No Lasting Peace Until Economic Issue Is Solved

MANILA —  President Corazon Aquino said Wednesday that she expects isolated clashes to continue between government soldiers and Communist rebels despite a 60-day cease-fire that she described as “a very good beginning.”

In an interview with The Times two hours after the cease-fire took effect, Aquino said there will be no lasting peace in this troubled country until her government can provide jobs and food for the people.

“Democracy is OK, but you have to eat,” she said. “What is primary in the minds of a lot of the Filipino people now is just give us a chance to earn a livelihood, and we will work and we will live in peace.”

Important to Economy

The cease-fire is an important step toward solving the economic crisis that fuels the Communist insurgency, she said, adding, “If there is no peace in the countryside, how can you work out these problems?”

She stopped short of calling the cease-fire a victory.

“People like to see results first,” she went on. “Maybe after two weeks you will see me exulting praises over this. But I guess I’m pretty cautious. Definitely, it’s a very good beginning but, as in most beginnings, you wait to see what actually happens.”

Developments elsewhere in the country bore out Aquino’s fears. There were unconfirmed reports of clashes in rural areas, and a marcher in one of several local peace rallies was shot and killed in the southern city of Davao, where the guerrilla war has taken thousands of lives. There were indications that the man was killed by bullets fired into the air as part of the cease-fire celebration.

Meanwhile, Antonio Zumel, one of the rebel leaders who helped draft the cease-fire agreement, said that he, too, expects “incidents in the field” to continue for two or three days.

But Zumel, together with government negotiator Teofisto Guingona, told the press that any such violations will not be regarded as grounds for interrupting the cease-fire. They said that such incidents will be adjudicated by regional cease-fire committees that are in the process of being formed.

There were many signs that Filipinos generally welcomed the prospect of relief from 17 years of insurrection that has taken 16,500 lives since 1979. Church bells were rung throughout the country.

On the impoverished island of Negros, 30,000 priests, laborers, farmers, human rights workers and unarmed guerrillas marched through the streets shouting peace slogans. People cheered and threw confetti from their windows. Nemisio Demafiles, a rebel commander who went underground 14 years ago, was tearfully embraced by a girlfriend who had not seen him since 1972.

In the northern province of Pampanga, a family wept and several hundred soldiers stood grim-faced at attention at a memorial service for a police sergeant slain by guerrillas a few days before the cease-fire took effect.

Most ‘Just Want Peace’

“At this point, the majority of the Filipinos just want peace,” Aquino said in the interview. “I think not only me, but perhaps the majority of the country, really welcomes this.”

But real and lasting peace “does not come instantly,” she said, continuing: “I don’t think in our present position that I should make the people feel that all our problems are over now. . . . I don’t want anybody to rest, especially those among us who have been given more in life than others.”

In the interview, Aquino’s first since she dismissed Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile last month and began a major reorganization of her government, she also:

--Pledged to make more changes soon in her Cabinet and hinted strongly that she will replace her controversial minister of labor, Augusto Sanchez, largely because leftist labor unions have been pressuring her to retain him.

--Hedged on whether “genuine land reform,” which is high on the rebels’ list of demands, will include breaking up her 12,000-acre family hacienda.

--Asserted that brisk Christmas shopping and the emergence of many new small businesses are signs that the Philippine economy is improving. She said this improvement began after her visit to the United States last September.

--Conceded that her 10-day U.S. visit, which included a meeting with President Reagan, was the principal source of her new-found confidence as a national leader.

--Reaffirmed her devout belief in God and religion and her practice of praying in times of crises as “the sustaining force” that has enabled her to deal with threats to her nine-month-old government.

“If there is anything that has sustained me through all my difficult years, it has been my deep religious faith,” Aquino said. “So to believers, I say I have nothing to explain; to nonbelievers, I say I will just continue praying so that they will become like me.”

Asked whether she can run a nation of 54 million people on prayer alone, she replied: “Yes. I really give it everything I’ve got. I’ve never worked this hard in my life. But I think, give it all you’ve got, then leave the rest to God, and somehow things will work out. So far, they’ve worked out pretty well.”

Stung by Press Criticism

The president conceded that criticism of her government by the national and foreign press still hurts.

“I’m just human,” she said. “I react very well to fair criticism and to constructive criticism. At the same time, I don’t like being threatened. I don’t like people telling me, ‘Do this, or else.’ ”

Asked whether the militant labor unions that support the labor minister have been doing just that in threatening to declare a national strike if she fires him, Aquino said, “Now you know more or less what’s going to happen.”

Responding to criticism that she is moving too slowly in reorganizing the Cabinet as demanded by the majority of commanders of the nation’s powerful armed forces, she said: “That’s OK. I’ve gotten a lot worse criticism. . . . I don’t expect to win every game, and while I may continue to be popular, I still have opponents to contend with.”

She said she was irritated by organized labor’s refusal to agree to a national moratorium on strikes, which have plagued the economy and scared off potential foreign investors since the popular uprising that drove Ferdinand E. Marcos into exile last February.

Business Support

She said that on the other hand, big business, which she attacked last summer for allegedly reneging on its promise to support her presidency, has boosted its stake in the country significantly since her reprimand.

“They’re doing OK now,” she said. “My trip to the United States really improved my ratings in my own country. While I was received so very well in your country, it wasn’t as important to me as the effect it had on my own people. Because of that trip, the (Filipino) businessmen who were with me suddenly said, ‘Well, I guess if Americans think so much of her, maybe it’s time we did.’ ”

But Aquino conceded that the economic problems are enormous: a $26-billion debt and nearly half the population underemployed. It will be many years before the country can recover, she said.

Last week, she said, she told her minister of finance that “if only you’d give me a lot of money, I could solve so many of our problems.”