MANILA, Philippines -- Deposed president Ferdinand Marcos, worried that communists will seize the Phillipines by the end of next month, said in a taped interview broadcast in Manila Sunday he expects to return home before then to save the nation.
The interview with Manila radio station DZEC came amid reports that the Aquino government instructed airlines to block the ousted ruler's return from Hawaiian exile.
'I can feel it in my bones that no matter what we do, even if we do not do anything, the revolutionary government of Madame Cory Aquino will collapse,' Marcos said.
The 69-year-old Marcos, deposed in a civilian-backed military revolt Feb. 25, said he would return to the Philippines 'to restore peace, prosperity and progress in the country.'
It was not known when the interview was conducted.
'This is my prayer, this is my hope, that I see you soon,' Marcos said. 'To each and everyone of you, I say, if we do not see each other soon, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.'
News reports said Marcos's armed forces chief, Gen. Fabian Ver, who fled with him to Hawaii in February, was in Marcos's home province of Ilocos Norte, accompanied by a brother of former first lady Imelda Marcos.
But Maj. Avelino Edralin, the Ilocos Norte deputy constabulary commander, denied the reports as 'a mere rumor being spread by Marcos loyalists.'
