Ver Will Be Reinstated if Cleared in Killing: Marcos

CEBU, Philippines — President Ferdinand E. Marcos said today that Gen. Fabian Ver will be reinstated as armed forces chief if he is acquitted in the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., and that the military will also be revamped.

Marcos said Ver, on trial with 24 other soldiers and a civilian in the 1983 slaying of Aquino, will be reinstated as head of the armed forces automatically if he is acquitted.

“For how long, we will decide when we get there,” Marcos said.

Marcos made his announcement during a news conference in Cebu, an opposition stronghold where he was campaigning for presidential elections scheduled to be held early next year. It was Marcos’ first news conference in nine months.

Acquittal Expected

The court that tried Ver and his co-defendants for the slaying of the opposition leader has announced that it will hand down a verdict next Wednesday. Ver is expected to be acquitted.

The Reagan Administration has warned Marcos that Ver’s reinstatement for an extended period could trigger a “firestorm” in Congress, which has agreed to make aid to the Philippines contingent upon military, economic and political reforms.

Marcos told reporters today that upon Ver’s reinstatement, there would be “a general reorganization of the armed forces of the Philippines--from the general staff all the way down to operational battalions.”

Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, speaking at a luncheon in Manila, said that Ver’s reinstatement is “politically burdensome,” but that Marcos had to respect Ver’s right to “maintain his dignity and honor.”

Vote of Confidence

During his campaigning today, Marcos said he called the “snap” election more than a year before his term expires “to secure a vote of confidence for my administration, for its ideals, its ideology and for its program of national recovery.”

“On the successful holding of such election may well rest the long-term stability of the republic,” he told a national conference of businessmen.

The election, which Marcos suggested should be held on Jan. 17, now seems likely to take place in February. He told reporters he is agreeable to holding it Feb. 7.

In a separate development, the heads of 14 national and regional opposition groups raised the possibility that they will boycott the polls.

“We have agreed that the opposition will participate, provided that the elections are constitutional, fair and credible,” National Unification Council spokesman Bren Guiao announced after a four-hour session in Manila’s financial district.

Asked if there was a possibility that the opposition would agree to boycott the polls, Guiao said, “all options are open.”

The opposition leaders failed to unite behind a common candidate but said additional meetings will be held.

Homobono Adaza, an opposition member of Parliament, said the council will try to approve a method for selecting one candidate to challenge Marcos in his bid for another six-year term.

Aquino’s widow, Corazon, and former Sen. Salvador Laurel, 56, leader of the country’s largest opposition coalition, were regarded as front-runners.