Journal. [1966]

The government places a tax lean on the properties of the Cebu
millionaire merchant and naturalized citizen, Ernesto Dakay, and
garnishes his bank accounts; criminal action will also be taken against
him for smuggling and corruption; he is an importer of textiles, canned
goods, household appliances sold through some 270 outlets, mostly
Chinese.
The Supreme Court upholds the legality of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, dismissing a petition of former Sen. Vicente Francisco
in connection with the election protest of Sen. Gerardo Roxas against
the election of Vice-President Fernando Ldpez.
The fifth floor offices of the Rosario Bros. Inc. building on Magsaysay Boulevard, Manila, are destroyed in a fire set off by an undisconnected electric typewriters; damage is estimated at P1 million.
US navy planes smash N Vietnam's largest oil depot at Haiphong
and o4ther oil targets north and northwest of Hanoi; other planes sink
2 P. T. boats and damage 2 others 25 miles from Haiphong; 1 plane was
shot down during the day. A disciplinary council of 20 generals
sentences 5 S Vietnam generals accused of aiding the recent Buddhist
uprisings to discharge from tne army and several months imprisonment, including Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi, once warlord of the
northernmost provinces, whose dismissal in March touched off the
Buddhist protests in Da Nang which spread all over the country.
Some 5.000 students in Jakarta, following the adjournment of the
Congress on the 6th, stage a demonstration demanding that Sukarno
retire as President.
July 9- Tne President receives a group of Malaysia and Singapore officials headed by Minister Tan Srt Sardon of Malaysia who
came here on the inaugural flight of the Malaysian Airways; he tells
them the Pnilippines "would like to reestablish not only cultural and
economic relations with all its neighbors but would like to see the organization of Asian states extended beyond the concept of ASA and
even that of Maphilindo".
Aspiras, in a press statement, after consultation with Gen. Euloglo
Balao, head of the Philippine planel, cautions against over-optimism
over the results oi the conference; he states the talks were merely the
first stage of the negotiations.
Velasco directs all PC zone and provincial commands to disband
all agents,-secret, confidential, and special, appointed by governors
and other provincial and municipal officials; the actions is based o,n a
1961 Malacafiang circular.
July 10- Tne President dismisses the provincial treasurer of
Negius Occidental following administrative charges brought against
him by the Secretary of Finance for negligence, abuse of discretion,
illegal disbursement of funds, and misuse of trust funds.
Land Authority Governor Conrado Estrella tells newsmen in
Baguio that the Marcos administration is set to declare the whole 2nd
district of Pampanga as a land reform area.
The Negros Occidental cout t of first instance orders the National
Waterworks and Sewerage Administration to turn over to San Carlos
City the ownership of the local system and to pay the City some P74,000
to cover its losses since Nawasa took it over in 1958 under R.A. 1383
and Executive OLder No. 127 (1955,).
Vice-Premier Chen Yi, addressing a Peking mass rally, denounces
the US for the new bombing and Russia for "playing the role of an
accomplice in the US imperialist scheme of forcing peace talks"; he
states Russia is taking "united action" with the US to sabotage the
revolutionary struggle of all the peoples of the world; he also charges
that Russia is deploying troops along the China border "in coordination with the US".
Russia in a note handed to the US Embassy in Moscow charges
that the US air attacks on Haiphong created a direct threat to Russian
merchant ships and that the US must bear responsibility for possible
consequences.
July 11-Ihe President receives the officials of the Satellite
Telecommunications Corp. (Severe J. Santiago, Jose L. Santiago, John
T. Neylor) accompanied by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Narciso Ramos,
and asks them to submit its plans in detail. He orders the expediting
of the investigation of the killing of the 5 Concepcion, Tarlac, farmers
as conflicting reports continue to be published. As the Taal eruption
worsens and people of some 11 lakeside barrios are evacuating the
danger areas, the President views the scene fromn a helicopter. He ordets
Velasco to disarm the police of Iloilo City and 4 other towns of long
fire-arms, as originally recommended by the provincial commandel.
Tne school year opens for the country's 7.5 million children and
students in some 35,670 public and private schools, with the shortage
of classrooms endangering admission of spome 152,000.
Speaker Cornelio Villareal, speaking before a National Press Club
seminar in Baguio, states the country is facing a "total crisis" due to
having allowed basic problems to accumulate which now threaten to
swamp us and the resulting slow economic development,-half the
population lives under semi-feudal conditions, the government is frustrated for lack of funds, the crime wave; "when a government can no
longer maintain law and order at a level acceptable to the people a political vacuum is created into which will step either the forces of the
extreme right or the extreme left".
All Soviet government agencies have reportedly been instructed
to be ready to step up military and economic aid to N Vietnam; believed
to be part of a campaign to prove its support in the face of the Chinese
charge of Russian "collusion" in the US attacks on Hanoi and Haip.
hong.
THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
August, 1966 4(

July 12- The President directs the Secretary of Justice Jose
Yulo to furnish him with monthly reports on the number of major criminal cases pending in eveiy court of first instance and also issues a
memorandum to the judges "to do their shaie" in the task of meeting
the grave crime problem throughout the country. As Taal volcano
activity increases with perceptible quackes and rumblings for the first
time, Executive Secretary Rafael M.. Salas directs the Presidential
Committee on Relief and Rehabilitation to seek a permanent solution
of the problem of the displaced residents.
Reported that Benjamin Romualdez, brother-in-law of the President, will leave soon for Washington as "presidential envoy with the
rank of ambassador", in connection with the proposed state visit;
a special team headed by Undei-Secretary Placido Mapa and made
up of technical men from the National Economic Council, Central
Bank, and Program Implementation Agency will leave tomorrow.
Vera orders the relief of top BIR officials in Cebu because of unexplained delays which allowed Dakay, now under a P20 million tax
liability, to dispose of large parts of his assets.
Iloilo Gov. Rafael Palomares states the disarming of the police in
the province is a part of a political vendetta and charges Sen. Rodolfo
Ganzon as being behind the move.
Former Arnbas. Emilio Abella, chairman, Manila Electric Co.
board and chairman, Council for Economic Development, in an address
before the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, endorses the
NEC socio-economic program with ceitain reservations and urges the
private sector to support it. Former NEC chairman Hilario Henates
also recently endorsed the program.
Dakay, through former Rep. Manuel Zoza, issues a statement
denying he transfered any property to evade taxes and protests against
the present "trial by publicity"; Zoza states the Secretary of Justice
was misinformed and warns the President against being misled.
Johnson, speaking before editors of university and college newspapers meeting at White Sulphur Springs, W. Virginia, delivers what
is described as his first major statement on China; he states that "cooperation and not hos!ility is the way of the future" and urges China to
renounce aggressive designs and to open the country to the outside
world; "peaceful co-existence \ith the world's most populous nation
is the best hope for a peaceful and prosperous Asia". The State Department announces that US businessmen and athletes will be allowed to
travel to Communist China, Cuba, and 3 other previously restricted
areas,-last December the Department liberalized travel restrictions
on doctors and public health officials.
Defense Secretary Robei t S. McNamara states in a news conference
that despite US gains there are no signs yet of an early end to the Vietnam war and that additional air and ground forces will be required to
the 280,000 men now there; costs run to about $ 1 billion a day; a
recent poll shows that 54% of the public support the President's handling of the war, reversing the trend of dissatisfaction before the bombing.
The US veterans commission panel returns to Washington; Teague
states the panel is sympathetic "but we are distrcssed at continuing
reports of a $500 to $300 million outcome because this is misleading
to the Philippine veterans; nowhere near that amount of money is
likely in any settlement and no pay raises are possible".
July 13-Tne President received Vice-President Lopez, concurrently Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, who, with his
wife returned today fiom a 5-day state visit to Thailand. He receives
the credentials of Ambas. Jos*e Perez del Arco, the new Spanish envoy.
Meeting with petroleum company executives, he persuades them not
to increase the price of kerosene and to limit the increase in the price
of gasoline to 1, 2 centavo a liter. He orders the release of P150,000
from the presidential calamity funds to the Social Welfare Administration for the relief of the Taal evacuees. During the day a man, believed
to be a Huk, brought to Malacafiang on his way to be questioned at
Camp Crame, seizes a firearm at the guard house and fires several shots
and he himself is shot in the knee.
Reported that agreement was reached by Ramos and Blair on
prior US consultations with the Philippines on the use of bases here for
combat operations; Blair will leave tomorrow for Europe to be away
for 2 or 3 weeks.
Reported from Kuala Lumpur that Malaysia will begin recruiting
some 45 Filipino doctors to "alleviate an acute shortage".
US warplanes bomb a large oil-tank compound at Dong Nahm,
16 miles northwest of Haiphong in one of the biggest raids so far.
Rusk in Washington praises key US allies in the Pacific, including
the Pailippines, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan; he states the Philippines
has a "vigorous and experienced leader in President Marcos".
Sen. Gil J. Puyat calls on Washington officials and has lunch with
officials of the World Bank; in a statement he urges Marcos to visit
the US to gain a better understanding of the "American mood and
market"; "he would feel the confidence in him that exists in the US
in both piivate and public sectors".
Sduveyor-1, which made a soft landing on the moon on June 1,
emerging from the 2-week long night, sends some 257 new pictures,
disclosing some damage done by tl.e tempemature which went down to
300~ Fahrenheit below zero; the quality of the pictures is said to be still
high.
July 14- The President signs the Vietnam aid bill; he states
that the legislation was "a decision of tne people" and not of a group
and that "we do not go to war; we go to help a friendly nation to rebuild

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