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Manila Against Marcos Return to Face Trial

United Press International

President Corazon Aquino’s government has no intention of permitting Ferdinand E. Marcos to return from Hawaiian exile to face criminal charges of plundering about $10 billion during his 20-year rule, a top official said today.

“The present feeling is that he should not be allowed to come home now,” Ramon Diaz, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, told the Foreign Correspondents Club of the Philippines.

The commission was formed by Aquino after the February, 1986, revolution to recover assets Marcos allegedly stole. Last month the commission filed civil charges to recover the plundered wealth.

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Criminal charges are expected to be filed against Marcos within the month, Diaz said. Marcos’ appearance is not required in the civil suit, but his presence would be required in a criminal case.

Diaz said government lawyers are studying the possibility of holding the criminal trial outside the country for “national security considerations.”

“The right to due process, after all, is a personal right and when you have that clashing with national security, we think that due process has to give way,” Diaz said.

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