Met Carl Mydans, the war correspondent and photographer, who after the conference on the South Cotabato cultural minority imbroglio (Datu Mafalen and his four wives) said he was touched by the way in which I handled the crisis. He has been here two days with Manda [Manuel] Elizalde [Jr.] in the Tboli area.
Then a conference with Sec. Felix Makasiar of Justice, [Juan] Ponce Enrile, Gens. [Manuel] Yan and [Eduardo] Garcia, Lt. Col. [Cirilo] Bueno, Prov. Commander of South Cotabato, Gov. [Sergio] Morales, Mayor [Jose] Sison, Cong. James Chiongbian and Sec. Manda Elizalde.
All the datus will be called to a conference at Surallah, with all local executives, Sec. Enrile and the military to negotiate peace and prevent any further irritants between Christians and minorities, and between the Panamin and the local authorities.
Then had a late lunch with the [Richard] Nixon task force headed by Admiral [George] Anderson [Jr.], Ambassador Murphy, Dr. Murphy, Sec. Moore on the U.S. policy in Asia.
A short nap and then work on the pending papers.
Received a letter of the Worth Abbey School father rector (Father Dominic) asking for more particulars about Bongbong who was marked as eleven when he will be thirteen on September 13, 1970 the day schools open in England.
Official Gazette for July 13, 1970: President Marcos met with all parties involved in the continuing land and other problems in Surallah, South Cotabato, to thresh out their differences and map out the measures that could be taken to insure peace and order and harmony in the region.
Before the lengthy meeting, the President conferred with Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile, Secretary of Justice Felix V. Makasiar and PANAMIN Secretary Manuel Elizalde, Jr.
Those who attended the main conference were Secretary Makasiar, Secretary Enrile, Secretary Elizalde, Rep. James Chiongbian, General Manuel T. Yan, AFP chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Eduardo Garcia, PC chief; South Cotabato Gov. Sergio Morales and provincial commander Lt. Col Cirilo Bueno; Surallah Mayor Jose Sison and Police Chief Melecio Tapispisan, and Datu Manudal Godwino.
Except for a brief interview with newsman Carl Mydans, after the meeting, the President had nothing else on his agenda except paper work, to which he devoted the rest of his work day.
Carl Mydans (1907-2004) was a photographer of Life Magazine from its founding in 1936 till it closed in 1972. His Philippine connection, aside from the iconic photo of Douglas MacArthur in the 1945 Leyte Landing, was that he and his wife Shelley were captured by the Japanese in 1941, interned for a year in Manila, were transferred to Shanghai where they were released in 1943. His son Seth Mydans was New York Times Asia correspondent, once based in Manila who covered the fall of Marcos and its aftermath.