Official Gazette, October 19, 1970: The President conferred with various officials, received others who came for consultations, and fulfilled a speaking engagement in Tanay, Rizal, where the PHILEC plant, a landmark in local electrical industry, was inaugurated. In between all these activities, he worked on state papers.
About 10 a.m., the President left his desk work to confer with Rep. Eduardo Cojuangco and a group of mayors of Tarlac to discuss development and other economic concerns to the province. Sitting in on the meeting were Board of Industry Chairman Vicente Paterno and Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata.
Later, towards noon, the President had a brief meeting with Senator Wenceslao R. Lagumbay who consulted him on problems of the senator’s constituency; and immediately after this, the President conferred with the National Manpower Training Council. Among those at the latter meeting were Secretary of Labor Blas F. Ople, council chairman; Peter Ferguson, expert on trade test and analysis; Pastor Quaalo, consultant on industrial training needs assessment; and Guy Loveridge, plant training apprenticeship expert of the ILO; and Rony Diaz, acting director-general of the Council.
In the afternoon, at about 4 p.m., the President left Malacañang for Barrio Dolores in Tanay, where he was guest of honor at the inauguration of the PHILEC plant, a subsidiary of the Philippine Electric Corporation. In his speech, the President restated his administration’s commitment to “a vigorous electrification program” as a key factor in transforming the pace of the cities, and the countryside. “Electricity is a key element of progress,” he stressed in a speech delivered at the inauguration of the distributor-transformer plant of the Philippine Electric Corporation at Barrio Dolores, Tanay, Rizal, where he was Guest of Honor.
It is national policy, the President said, to achieve total electrification on an area coverage basis, and for this reason both Congress and the executive branch have placed power development and electrification among the priority projects of development.The program of total electrification, he pointed out, requires the coordinated efforts of both the government and the private sector. (See pp. 9830-C to 9830-H for full text of the President’s speech.)
Back in Malacañang, he resumed his desk work, staying at his desk through the evening. In between conferences the President attended to other important state business. He asked government financing institutions, notably the GSIS and the SSS, to favorably consider granting loans, possibly as much as a year’s salary, to their members, who suffered reverses from the typhoon that lashed the Bicol region. He also asked the Development Bank of- the Philippines to similarly consider the suspension of the payment of amortizations on crop and other types of loans incurred by victims of the recent typhoon. The extension of loans by government financing institutions to residents in the typhoon devasted areas is aimed at enabling them to start anew with whatever was left of their homes and other property destroyed by “Typhoon Sening.” To speed-up the relief and rehabilitation operations being undertaken in the areas affected by the typhoon, the President named Major Gen. Gaudencio Tobias (ret.) as overall coordinator of the relief and rehabilitation work in the devasted areas in the Bicol region, Quezon and Marinduque.
The President also sent a message of congratulations to the newly confirmed President of the United Arab Republic, Anwar el Sadat. The President’s message follows:
On behalf of the people and government of the Philippines I extend sincerest congratulations and felicitations on your overwhelming victory in referendum and in your Excellency’s assumption of office as president of the United Arab Republic. I express the fervent hope that under your wise leadership the highest goals of peace and prosperity will be achieved by the Egyptian peoples. May I convey assurance of my cooperation to your Excellency in the effort to further strengthen friendly and close relations between our two peoples and governments.
I have just come from the inauguration of Philec (Phil. Electric Corp.) headed by Oscar Lopez, son of Eugenio Lopez, Sr., chairmaned by Ex-Sec. Alfredo Montelibano, a factory for transformers. Travel by helicopter—5 min. It is situated at Taytay, Rizal. Mayor is Antonio Esguerra.
Many ladies have claimed the dubious honor of being my girl friends. But the most obnoxious is a Dovie Boehms [Beams], the leading lady in Maharlika, a film supposedly based on the war exploits of Lawin, alias, Ferdinand Marcos. I met her or she was introduced to me during the Famas [Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences] Festival last year. She has come back and insisted with the Press Office (Larry Cruz) and Appointments Secretary that she be allowed to see me. I refused. My instincts were right. She is a name dropper. She approached Imelda on the Tourism conference and program at Hilton where she stays and proudly announced that she knew her (Imelda’s) husband. Imelda properly ignored her. But over TV and in interviews with newspapermen, she insinuates that she has been my inamorata! And I have not even seen her on this trip of her. The only time I saw her was during the casual introduction last year. How the media can indeed swallow a story that appeals to the morbid curiosity of men!!
This afternoon, the Daily Mirror included a statement of the widow, Gov. Carmeling Crisologo, hoping that the campaign of hate and vilification by Chino [Joaquin] Roces, the Jesuits and students would stop as it was they who killed Cong. [Floro] Crisologo.
Up to now the assailants of Floring Crisologo have not been identified.
Directed Sec. Cesar Virata and Ting [Vicente] Paterno to finish the plans for the IISMI [Iligan Integrated Steel Mills Inc.] which we are supposed to submit to the Ex-Imp [Export-Import] Bank otherwise the bank would call on our guaranty for the IISMI. This may mean that the IISMI may be taken over by the government.
Met the Manpower Council. I have just appointed Rony Diaz as Director General. And I want the training upgraded (the modules of the Philippines is being adopted by the ILO [International Labor Organization]). And the survey of industrial requirements finished soon so we can determine our objectives.
Conferred with Sen. [Wenceslao] Lagumbay and Mayor [Benjamin] Real, the head of the mayors in the second district of Laguna on Laguna problems.
Then the mayors of the 1st District of Tarlac where Sen. Jose Roy wants [Mercedes Cojuangco] Ditas Teodoro to withdraw in favor of his son, Rony.
And finally with PVTA [Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration] manager, Atty. Moreno and Moon Park of PHIL-ASIA on the program for the Virginia tobacco industry.
PHILEC inauguration and meeting with Ralph Nubla on cigarette manufacturing and the PVTA.