JOHNSON POUNDED TABLE AT MANILA CONFERENCE FOR MORE TROOPS
At the Manila conference October 24-25, Johnson issued soothing words about bringing "peace" to Vietnam. At the conference table itself, however, he raged at the other "summiteers," insisting that they escalate their participation in the war. He pounded the table with his fists to emphasize his demand.
The inside story was told by Manila Times staff writer Federico Pascual in the October 27 issue of his paper. He said his information came from "diplomatic sources who had access to the closed-door deliberations of the summiteers at Malacanang."
President Marcos of the Philippines, according to these sources, refused to sign an early draft of the communiqué finally issued by the conference because it was "bris-— tling with warlike and provocative" phrases. The communiqué was then toned down to make it sound more peacelike.
Johnson jacked up President Marcos over committing only 2,000 Filipino troops to the war in Vietnam. He "reminded the Philippines," reported Pascual, "that its participation in the war effort...was meager and should be stepped up."
The communiqué issued by the conference was denounced by Ignacio P. Lacsina, general secretary of Lapiang Manggagawa, a labor organization, as a "counterrevolutionary charter whose objective is a fictional peace based | on the suppression of the Vietnamese people's right to self-determination.
Johnson was met by antiwar pickets at the Manila Hotel where he was lodged. A
number of them were injured by club-swinging police. Their placards bore such slogans as "Marcos: Puppet"; “Johnson, Dollar-—Devil of the World"; "Stop This Crime Against Humanity."