The talk of the town is still the capture of Commander Sumulong [Faustino del Mundo]. The Liberals are sour graping as usual, [Gerardo] Roxas and [Benigno] Aquino [Jr.] insinuating that it was a rigged-up surrender and not a capture! They just want their names in the front pages.
It turns out that he was turned in by a certain Ato, a former close-in security man whom he trusted but whom he had scolded about money.
One of the first men he wanted to talk to was Cong. [Eduardo] Cojuangco [Jr.] whom he wanted to secure a lawyer for him.
Talked to Imelda at Lisbon (a 7-hour time difference) for more than an hour (1:10 PM to 2:15 PM). She was given tea by the President and the Sec. of Foreign Affairs was giving her a reception in the afternoon.
Official Gazette for September 18, 1970: President Marcos further tightened the anti-smuggling drive by creating the National Action Committee on Anti-Smuggling Affairs (NACASA), which will coordinate the functions of the different agencies of the government engaged in anti-smuggling activities.
The President formed the committee after it was noted that gaps and inadequacies have hampered the anti-smuggling efforts of the government. Particularly noted was the weakness in intelligence, operations, apprehensions, prosecution and disposition of smuggling cases.
The executive order specified that the committee will be composed of the Commissioner of Customs, the chairman of the Anti-Smuggling Action Center, a representative each of the Secretary of Justice, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, AFP chief of staff, and such other government entities that the committee may call, and the commandant of the Coast Guard. The committee will elect from among its members the chairman, who will have a term of three months. Then a new chairman will be elected with the same tenure. The committee is charged with the planning, programming, implementation, direction and supervision of the combined government agencies involved in the anti-smuggling drive.
It will also conduct joint investigation and prosecution of all cases involving violations of existing laws, rules and regulations on smuggling throughout the country.
The committee will have a permanent secretariat at the ASAC office to be composed of a secretary and two assistants provided by the ASAC. The secretariat’s functions are to: 1. Maintain liaison among the members of the committee; 2. Attend to the implementation and follow-up of the decisions of the committee; 3. Maintain the records and files of the committee; and 4. Prepare and submit such reports as the action committee may direct.
The President had only one caller in the morning, Rufino Cardinal Santos, with whom he had a brief talk on the forthcoming papal visit. The rest of the day was devoted by the President to his desk work, in the course of which he signed the executive order creating the National Action Committee on Anti-Smuggling Affairs. The President also concerned himself with the relief operations in Quezon province, and studied reports of other state agencies on various matters.
In the evening, he had a working dinner once more, this time with finance officials, including Senator Dominador Aytona, chairman of the Senate finance committee. Others at the dinner were Board of Investments Chairman Vicente Paterno and PES Director-General Placido Mapa, Jr.
She talked of what Bongbong had told him [sic] when she called him last from London. The pictures in his album had one of the family against the giant chandelier of the palace and some of his classmates wanted to know if his father was a minister since we seemed to be in a cathedral. And he has already cured the sniffles of a roommate with Decolgen. Breakfast is not so bad as he gets a one-inch thick ham. For lunch and dinner the food seems substantial. But he has to clean the bathroom and classroom. And he is acquiring the technique so he can finish this in five minutes. He has avoided rugby until he learns the game but he has sported around his judo green belt. He feels some of his classmates are “stupes” and he is “doing well indeed” in his classes. So much so he is in the senior class in mathematics. But his uniform is three sizes too large and his mother left him no English currency and the school store would not accept his dollars. A second year boy sneered “These Asians” when he was with a Middle East boy in the first day and he cursed him back in Tagalog. But since then he has not consorted with the Middle East boy as the hijacking Arabs are not exactly popular. Otherwise he has made friends with all the 200 classmates.
Apparently he likes it out there although he says he will take the first plane home next December.
I am glad the school disciplines the students and makes them work cleaning bathrooms and classrooms as well as helping the monks in cleaning up the walls. Bongbong says that the teachers do not press you to study but if you do not you just flunk and have to take the subject all over again. This will instill not only self-discipline but also develop initiative.
He is turning out to be a businessman. He has sold chocolates and balisong. He will probably earn more than his two pounds allowance per month.
But he wants to travel to Scotland and Ireland. And I believe we should encourage him in this.
One of the biggest surprises of our lives is the report that the locker of Bongbong is so neatly arranged that the housemaster has referred to it as a model for the other boys.
Three cheers for him!
Met some of the oil concessioners. I may have to order a rebidding of the concessions in the Sulu-Palawan area.
Asked the Jacintos and Sen. [Dominador] Aytona in the dinner I invited them to, to go to Washington and find out if the report is true that the Export Import Bank will not restructure the IISMI [Iligan Integrated Steel Mills Inc.] loan if they do not improve management and equity.
The Japanese suppliers are ready to help restructure their raw material loans of $72.5 million as Nanding Jacinto claims the Japanese cannot cut their credit because we are the biggest buyer of iron raw materials.
We will have to wait for the return of the Jacintos.