I went to the Coordinating Center for a media-covered briefing of the calamity and formally inaugurated the DND [Department of National Defense]-PES [Presidential Economic Staff] computer center.
During the briefing I had to explain the nature of a proclamation of calamity. It makes available the calamity funds which otherwise would not be touched. And it makes
Official Gazette for September 3, 1970: President Marcos issued a stern warning against the hoarding of consumer goods and the manipulation of prices.in the wake of the typhoon and floods which hit many parts of the country. The President issued the warning from the Relief Operations Center at Camp Aguinaldo in the morning, even as he announced the shift of operations from relief and rescue to rehabilitation and resettlement. The President said that the Natural Disaster and Calamity Plan has become effective and that hoarding of essential consumer goods and the manipulation of prices become immediately a crime under the law.
The President said that the primary objective of the plan is to save lives and property, and minimize damage during disasters and calamities. The plan was prepared and updated last March 10 to meet the natural disasters and calamities, since the country is within the typhoon belt.
During the preliminary briefing given by the heads or representatives of participating government and civic agencies, the President: 1) Ordered the immediate release by the Budget Commission of ₱100,000 more to the Department of Social Welfare for continuing operations. The President has already ordered the released of ₱200,000; 2) Decided to call a conference on flood control for the Greater Manila area in the immediate future with the view to recommending the necessary legislation to the next special session of Congress. 3) Declared a moratorium on amortizations and interests on agricultural loans granted by government financing institutions in the areas affected by the flood and typhoon. 4) Directed the Budget Commission to submit recommendations for the release of funds to enable farmers to replant crops washed, away by the floods. 5) Directed the Budget Commission to release funds for fencing the 1,800 hectares intended for an agro-industrial urban settlement for some 400 to 500 squatter families rendered homeless by the flood. 6) Issued an order enjoining all local governments to prohibit the construction of shanties, barong-barong and other buildings along estero and river banks, to prevent the return of former residents in these danger spots. 7) Directed Land Authority Governor Conrado Estrella to submit plans for the establishment of another resettlement project in Tanay, Rizal.
Present at the briefing were Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr., Secretary of Public Works and Communications Manuel B. Syquio, Secretary of Social Welfare Gregorio Feliciano, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., Assistant Executive Secretaries Roberto Reyes and Flores Bayot, Acting Press Secretary Lorenzo J. Cruz, Agriculture Undersecretary Arturo Tanco, Jr., Land Authority Governor Conrado Estrella, DSW Undersecretary Estela Primicias-Sindico, NAWASA General Manager Sergio Isada, Highways Commissioner Baltazar Aquino, Gen. Manuel T. Yan, AFP chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Mariano Ordoñez of the METROCOM; Defense Undersecretary Efren Plana, Brig. Gen. Eduardo Garcia, chief of the PC; Loreto Paras-Sulit of the PNRC; Gaudencio Tobias of the National Housing Corporation, PHHC General Manager Sebastian Santiago, and others.
While at Camp Aguinaldo, the President ordered the computerization of as many government activities as possible in an effort to modernize operations. The President expressed particular interest in the computerized budget planning and cash management. Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., who heads the PES-DND Computer Operations Center, informed the President that the adoption of a computerized budget planning and cash management would be to move from the petty cash to the cash management system.
hoarding and manipulation a crime punishable under the new law and not under the unwieldy provisions of the Revised Penal Code on conspiracies and manipulations.
The computer center is an innovation that will revolutionize both government and private sector efforts for development. Right now it is not attracting too much attention but soon it will as I computerize more and more development efforts.
Right now I have it working on cash management for the government. This is crucial as 65% of our government funds go to the salaries of officers and employees. Usually cash advances to disbursing officers eat up our available cash when such cash is just held idle anyway. We will soon be paying all government officers and employees by checks. This will aid capital build-up.
The rain continues and will probably do so until Saturday according to the Bureau of Weather. The low pressure area 250 miles east of Batanes is a semi-stationary—which means that is travelling at about 5 miles an hour. But there is a high-pressure area building up in the NE.
Imelda went to Bulacan by car and truck to attend to the victims while I attended to the needs of rehabilitation. I have declared that we now shift from rescue and relief to reconstruction and rehabilitation and have ordered Sec. [Gregorio] Feliciano of Social Welfare and Sec. [Antonio] Syquio of Public Works to take over the coordinating center at Fort Aguinaldo IOC [Intelligent Operations Center].
The waters have completely receded but there are reports that the waters of the San Juan River and rivers at Mandaluyong and others are going up.
The time tide cycle is as follows:
4:36 AM—1.2 ft. 11:19 AM—3.3 ft.
6:07 PM—1.0 ft. 11:52 PM—2.4 ft.