Filipinos

War was bad enough. But now there's another crisis. There just aren't enough Filipino maids. "After another week, I'll go outside Kuwait again. There's no one to clean, no Filipinos," said Mohammed Jassir, a Kuwaiti businessman who returned last week from exile in Saudi Arabia. In Kuwait, it's pretty much the rule that only foreigners get their hands dirty. And in the country's complex division of labor, Filipinos have largely filled the ranks of the housekeepers, waitresses, nurses, baby sitters, sales clerks and other light service jobs.

William F. Buckley (Op-ed Page, Jan. 7, "What if Marcos wins the election?") asked the Filipino people a question: "If you were a Filipino, feeling the hot breath of a communist insurgency, and given the choice of (Ferdinand) Marcos or (Corazon) Aquino, are you absolutely certain you would vote for Aquino?" Mr. Buckley answered that he was certainly not; but Mr. Buckley is also certainly not a Filipino either. As a Filipino myself (now studying at St. Joseph's University) I consider it evident that the "hot breath of a communist insurgency" can no longer be contained by the ailing President Marcos or by his over-staying generals.

Post-World War II generations of middle class Filipinos were educated and brought up to admire American democratic traditions. Many believe the Philippine election results will determine whether such values will continue to play a key role in Philippine politics. If today's election is perceived as fraudulent - stolen by President Ferdinand Marcos - older pro-American Filipinos believe their views may lose out in popularity to the more cynical, anti-American sentiments of the "martial- law babies.

It is with a great sense of pride to me, as a Filipino residing in the United States, that my generation became a part of an explosive triumph of spirit that will be etched in the history of the Philippines. The whole world viewed the Filipino spirit in action. What a moving sight it was to see the millions of Filipinos protecting their army. The manner in which the Filipino people helped and protected each one will surely leave an indelible mark on everyone's memory. As the new administration unfolds, I call for all my countrymen to rebuild our country from economic, social and moral ruins.

Does the United States have any business sending observers to a Philippine election? The answer is yes. American objectives in the Philippines have not changed since the turn the century, when the United States took possession of the islands: We wanted above all to establish and preserve a stable, pro-American society. We also sought to enhance our geopolitical position and military power through access to strategically valuable bases, while we encouraged the Filipinos themselves to develop and preserve their own democracy.

Isn't it remarkable that an axiom of history, to which those holding to a conservative ideology subscribe, should be played out so recently in the Philippines. To wit: Authoritarian governments collapse from within; totalitarian governments, because of their particular brand of repression, never do; they must be defeated from without. The cruel quashing of resistance to Communist masters by Poland and Hungary and the Filipinos' successful ousting of their authoritarian ruler are modern day examples of this truth.

The Rock, they say, is haunted. Haunted by 3,000 Americans and Filipinos who died when the rocky island that blocks Manila Bay fell to the Japanese on May 6, 1942. And haunted by an even greater number of Japanese who killed themselves rather than surrender to an avenging Gen. Douglas MacArthur on Feb. 16, 1945. The ghosts, if you believe, crowd the Malinta Tunnel, an underground shelter dug from solid rock where first Allied and then Japanese soldiers took refuge. "You go in at night," explained Ramon Alonso, a 58-year-old guide, "and you will feel a strange feeling.

A Feb. 26 article described Ferdinand Marcos' departure from the Philippines as a "textbook case of how to dump a friendly dictator. " Given the perspective of months or years rather than the last few hours and days, it seems much more accurate to describe President Reagan's approach toward Mr. Marcos, Jean-Claude Duvalier and the variety of dictators we still support as "how to prop up your friendly dictator until the very last minute, no matter how...

On the stage of the Rizal Theatre, the raising of the American flag in an outdated farce about American imperialism, Yankee Panky, draws hisses from a middle-class crowd of Filipinos. In a local newspaper, a columnist compares the U.S. Marines to a band of gangsters who run a protection racket by selling Filipinos the idea that "we are here to protect you from the Russians. " At a press forum, a respected economist suggests that the United States, because it supported Ferdinand E. Marcos throughout his 20-year presidency, shares the blame for the loss of all money stolen during those years, and proposes that the U.S. Congress allocate funds to reimburse the Philippines.

In Philadelphia, where citizens are eager to persuade the Pentagon to keep a naval base in their city, it may be hard to understand why Filipinos don't seem to want U.S. bases around. A new military and economic aid package signed this week - after months of acrimonious negotiations - raised the rent for America's two largest overseas U.S. military bases by 250 percent to $962 million for the next two years. That's in addition to the $500 million annually that the bases put into the Philippine economy by employing Filipinos and purchasing supplies.