Met Faq Special Committee on Rural Reform headed by the former President of Columbia.
Then [Kenneth] MacLesh of the Natural Geographic who is also an anthropologist.
Governor [Samuel] Reyes—he is interested in a sugar mill for Isabela.
We suffered about P25 million damage to our tobacco in the warehouses. We are selling them by public auction.
Official Gazette for December 2, 1970: President Marcos received a number of visitors and had several conferences with various officials, to make the day a particularly busy time.
Paying courtesy calls were: 1. Carlos Lleras Restrepo, former President of Colombia and the incumbent chairman of the United Nations FAQ special committee on agrarian reforms. He came with Land Authority Gov. Conrado Estrella and other local officials. 2. Gen. Jesus Vargas (AFP, retired), SSATO secretary-general, who consulted with the President on SEATO affairs, after a trip to Europe and the U. S. where he also talked with heads of states affiliated with the organization. 3. Kenneth MacLeish, senior assistant editor of the National Geographic Magazine, who has been here for a month looking into the conditions of Philippine cultural minorities. He was accompanied by PANAMIN Secretary Manuel Elizalde, Jr.
The President conferred with former RCA Chairman Alfredo Montelibano; and later in the day with Sen, Mamintal Tamano, Gov. Arsenio Quibranza of Lanao del Norte and Princess Potri Ali Pacasum on problems of the region. Also conferring with the President in the morning were Rep. Jose Puyat, Jr. and Gov. Recaredo Castillo of Surigao del Sur, along with a number of municipal mayors, on local problems. In the afternoon, the President was interviewed by Thomas Pepper of the BaltimoreSun.
For the rest of his working day, he concentrated on official papers, Among other things, the President: 1. Appointed four members of the board of directors of the Philippine-American Educational Foundation. Named directors were Chairman Gerardo Sicat of the National Economic Council, Dr. Juan Salcedo, Dr. Antonio Isidro, and Undersecretary Juan L. Manuel of the Department of Education. 2. Ordered that relief goods and seismograph and other detection instruments be sent immediately to Batanes, which recently suffered a series of earthquakes. Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., relaying the President’s order, wired Brig. Gen. Jesus Singson, chief of the Philippine Air Force, to assign a PAF plane to the relief mission for the province. 3. Asked Secretary of Justice Vicente Abad Santos to give “such assistance as may be extended” to two newsmen in South Cotabato who are facing libel charges before the Court of First Instance of that province. Reports reaching the President indicated that the two newspapermen. Victor C. Robin and Rene Peralta, editor-publisher and columnist, respectively, of the Southern Mail have been cited for libel by Mayor Restia de la Cruz of Norala, South Cotabato. 4. Ordered that henceforth, all those who will settle, on public lands must first of all organize themselves into agricultural cooperatives. The formation of cooperatives among settlers, which follows the government policy of cooperative undertakings, will also help much in effecting rapid development of the new communities to be formed by the settlers, Jr. the spirit of “bayanihan,” which is a long cherished Filipino tradition.
Hope to put up thru the private sector a redrying and cigarette manufacturing plant in San Fernando, La Union.
Played golf, then medical tests.
Mons. Gavin of Malaysia insists that it was he who disarmed Benjamin Mendoza, the would be assassin. He probably thinks so. What actually happened was that Mendoza stabbed at the Pope so fast that those close to him including the Pope’s secretary, Mons. Maceli and Mons. Gavin.
Thus I had to parry the two knife thrusts one (the first) lower than the second which was definitely aimed at the Pope’s throat. I also pushed the Pope back who fell backwards on Imelda.
Then everybody swarmed on Mendoza and may have missed the two original thrusts with the knife that constituted the first danger to the Pope’s life.
Mons. Maceli pushed up to my right front and Mons. Gavin helped to grapple with Mendoza.