Journal. [1966]

Mar. 23- The President and Mrs. Marcos have breakfast with
the Argentine Foreign Minister and his wife. He authorizes the PNR
to proceed with the purchase of 10 diesel locomotives to cost some P2
million to be guaranteed by the Development Bank of the Philippines.
He confers with officials of the Land Authority, the Agricultural Credit
Administration, and the Bureau of Lands to speed up the implementation of the land reform program. He receives Sen. Katigbak who gives
him a personal account of her recent trip to mainland China.
Subido orders the withholding of the salaries of 120 CIS agents,
appointed by Arellano last February 1, on the ground the appointments
violated the CS laws and regulations.
NAWASA officials file charges of violation of the anti-graft law
against Cantos, Regalado, the former managers, former Executive
Secretary Salvador Marifio, and former Public Works Secretary Brigido
Valencia.
Villegas assigns fire department water trucks to districts in Tondo
and Sampaloc on a 24-hour a day service; hard hit by the water shortage
are Quezon City, Pasay, Caloocan, and Parafiaque.
Reported that an Ametican communist, Henry S. Magdoff, who
came here as a tourist March 1 and left on the 10th, a member of the
"National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam", a
communist front organization based on Madison, Wisconsin, which is
sponsoring world-wide "International Days of Protest" on the 25th
and 26th, met here with student and labor leaders about staging the
protest here; Rep. Felix Amante (L, Negros Occ ), in a telegram to
Villegas, asks him to refuse a permit to hold the rallies.
Buddhist students, shouting anti-government and anti-American
slogans, paralyze two large cities in central S Vietnam,-Da Nang and
Hue.
Peking announces China has rejected the invitation to the 23rd
Soviet Communist Party conference in Moscow to meet on the 29th;
the letter to Moscow is the bitterest indictment of Russian policies and
anti-Chinese propaganda yet issued.
A group of 330 US congressmen sign a resolution opposing UN
admission of Communist China or any form of diplomatic or trade relations which could be interpreted as approval or acquiescence in its
aggression against its neighbors; admission and recognition would
"violate our country's basic interests and. dash the hopes of millions
of people enslaved by Communist China".
Mar. 24- The President meets with members of the Senate on
the Philippine-Japanese Treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation
and it is agreed to file a number of bills providing for various safeguards of Philippine interests. The President also certifies to Congress
a bill to allocate P1,500 to each of some 33,000 barrios for self-help
community projects in order to do away with the "pork barrel" system.
He asks elective officials who have been appointed to executive positions
to choose between them, stating in a letter addressed to them that "our
patty leaders" have insisted on this and that if he receives no reply
within a certain period he will infer the official concerned prefers the
elective post. Tare President issues a proclamation declaring the year
1966 from March 25 on as "Philippines-China Friendship Year".
Former President and Mrs. Mac&pagal stop briefly at the Manila
airport on their way from Australia for a 5-day visit to S Korea by way
of Hongkong; they are met by friends and an honor guard and Benjamin
Romualdez, brother-in-law of the President, representing him; Macapagal tells news-men the move to recognize Malaysia without giving
up the Sabah claim, is "good" and he states also he supports the plan
to send engineering troops to S Vietnam; he states he is retiring from
politics.
The Department of Finance intensifies the investigation of the
case of 14 sealed steel booms, 6 of which have been found to contain
several million pesos worth of contraband goods after 8 had already
been cleared by Customs between January 4 and February 18.
The Solicitor-General states in a memorandum he objects to "a
private lawyer of Astorga filing a case for NAWASA".
On invitation of Blair, members of the House national defense
committee visit Sangley naval station, the Subic base, and the Clark
air force base; Rear Adm. J. Monroe, commander of US naval forces
in the Philippines, states the Philippines has become a potential target
for retaliatory action as the bases are all geared to the support of the
Vietnam operations, but he minimizes the possibility of this; he states
the southward drift of the communist threat from Korea to SE Asia
has made the bases here "extremely vital to the defense"; American
officers point out to committee members the local purchase of millions
of dollars worth of supplies and services.
Tne Russians from the Vityaz play the Philippine navy football
team and win 3 to 0; reported that the Russian Embassy in Tokyo has
appointed the representative of a Japanese shipping line here to extend
funds to the ship.
Eleven heavily-armed men sack a coastal and several inland barrios
of Caramoan, Camarines Sur; they are believed to be part of the 50-man
band which raided San Narciso.
Sukarno holds a reception in the Hotel Indonesia ballroom for
diplomats, cabinet members, and foreign correspondents and tells them
that he has not been toppled or ousted, is not sick, is not dying, did not
nearly commit suicide, and has not asked for asylum in Manila, as has
been claimed abroad.
Mar. 25 - Tne President orders the cancellation of all logging
concessions within military reservations and EDCOR areas; also the
removal of kaingineros from water-shed areas. He directs defense

officials to organize 7 more engineering construction battalions for
civic action projects. He activates the Anti-Smuggling Action Center
and names Lt. Gen. Pelagio Cruz (ret.) as head, Brig. Gen. Manuel T.
Flores (ret.) as disposal officer of confiscated goods, and Col. Uldarico
Baclagon (ret.) as executive officer. He receives a committee of PNR
employees of the yard crew union, which struck this morning, paralyzing the service, and orders the immediate release of P.5 million to cover
unpaid wages, this settling the strike.
Ramos tells newsmen the Philippines will ask France to clarify
its stand on SEATO and the anti-communist effort in S Vietnam and
Laos; he states Communist China Foreign Minister Chen Yi told Sen.
Katigbak "nothing we did not know already here".
NAWASA cuts the Manila water supply nearly in half; two government hospitals in Quezon City appeal for water trucks.
Almendras states some of the ousted CIS agents are innocent and
he clears Col. Robustiano Javier and Lt. Col. Daniel Lantion, the
relieved chief and deputy chief, but states 20 witnesses have volunteered
to testify on CIS venalities; it is said at the Senate committee hearing
that the President's action was "impulsive" and "precipitate".
The Supreme Court extends the period covered in its earlier order
restraining Astorgas from assuming the Mayor's post.
Some 2000 students and workers demonstrate in front of the US
Consulate against US action in Vietnam and warn President Marcos
and "other US puppets" against sending Filipinos "or face a general
strike"'; among the placards was one: "Cao Ky & Nasution-U.S. Puppets"; also "Join American Students and Democrats the World OverMarch against U. S. Intervention and Atrocity in Vietnam-Busses
Available for U. P. students"; the rally is headed by leaders of the
Lapiang M&nggagawa and the Kabataang Makabayan, and
among the speakers are Felixberto Olalia and Ignacio Lacsina.
The Indonesian government closes down Communist China's
official New China news agency and orders its correspondents out of
the country, reportedly 3 days after the American correspondents,
ousted by Sukarno, were readmitted. Brig. Gen. E. Subroto, army
information chief, states the government "would be leftist against
colonialism, capitalism, and all forms of neo-colonialism and imperialism".
The US in a note to France asks it to clarify is policy toward NATO
as its aide memoire of the 12th was not specific. Rusk, at a news conference, asks Communist China leaders to discard their militant attitudes and give "over-riding consideration" to living at peace with its
neighbors.
US air force specialists are investigating reports of UFO sighted
by scores of people in Bangor, Maine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Trinidad.
Colorado, Toledo, Ohio, Freeport, Texas, etc. during the past several
days.
Mar. 26 - The President attends ceremonies at De La Salle
College at which his son and others are made cub boy scouts. He directs
the PAF authorities to deploy battalion combat teams if the PC needs
them for more e ffective action against cattle rustling. In the afternoon
he flies to Tacloban, Leyte, following Mrs. Marcos who left earlier to
attend "Imelda Day" at the St. Paul's College, now the College of the
Divine Word, Mrs. Marcos' former school; the city people turn out
in force for both arrivals.
The NEC is reported to have certified to Malacafiang a shortagof corn production for the present crop-year amounting to 150,000
metric tons; the government is expected to negotiate witi the US for
the importation of corn under P. L. 480.
Villegas offers to pay under protest the P550,000 in taxes imposed
on the 100 garbage trucks imported some time ago and impounded, the
importers having refused to pay the tax.
Rep. Fermin Caram ('N, Iloilo) states he has asked Rep. Salih
Utulatum, chairman, committee on education, to confer with Romulo
and other officers of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities on the possibility of uncovering and dismissing leftist professors
and instructors.
Cipriano Cid and Israel Bocobo, president and secretary-general,
respectively of the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions and the
Lapiang Manggagawa, deny that the two organizations took part
in yesterday's demonstration; Jose Ma. Sison, K. M. national chairman, states that at no time did any representative of his organization
discuss with the visiting economics professor Magdoff any public
demonstration.
The Vityaz leaves after taking on fresh fruits and vegetables and
water.
Reported that a "man-made" grass-like rice plant (IR8-288-3),
developed at the International Rice Research Institute, Los Bafios,
may double or tripple Asian rice production.
Mar. 27 - The President states in Tacloban that a congressional
investigation of a possible connection between the demonstrations
against aid to S Vietnam and communist agitators would be a "good
thing" although the executive department has also undertaken a "quiet
investigation".
Arellano states the communist movement here is not only alive
but has become a "major potential threat".
The Manila city auditor states it would be illegal for Manila to pay
the taxes on the 100 trucks imported for the city by a private firm.
Sukarno names as first deputy premier, Dr. Johannes Leimero;
second, Dr. Idhim Chalid; third, Ruslan Abdul Gani; fourth, the Sultan
of Jokjakarta; fifth, Suharto; sixth, Malik; Nasution is installed as
deputy commander of the "Crush Malaysia" command.

194

THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
April. 1966