Imelda and I went to Bicolandia by plane. I took the Fokker, she took Silverio’s Cessna-4.
Distributed the first cement credit cards as well as the excess income tax credit advise [sic], the first to capitanes del barrio and the second to municipal mayors. GI [galvanized iron] sheets will also be distributed.
It (the credit card system) seems to be a success.
We go to Bulacan and Rizal tomorrow.
I am at the VMH as [Veterans Memorial Hospital] I sleep here after a castor oil purgative of ten capsules; tomorrow they wake me up to give me enema in readiness for my GI [gastrointestinal] series and proctoscopy.
This afternoon I awarded the certificates of marksmanship to the experts of PSU [Presidential Security Unit] and PGB [Presidential Guard Battalion]. This was preceded by a marksmanship demonstration of combat shooting, fast draw, hip shooting “high-noon style,” men pitted against each other and also shooting at silhouette targets.
Volunteers were requested. My aide Mayo and Bongbong volunteered. He used a .38 4-inch revolver and hit the heart of his silhouette target; when I shouted between the eyes, he hit the head at will. I could hear Col. Berenguel of OSI [Office of Special Intelligence] exclaim, “Say, he can shoot!”
Official Gazette for December 17, 1970: President Marcos left Manila early in the morning for Camarines Sur, where he launched the new program of the government, which is to extend assistance-in-kind to localities with the use of a “credit card.”
Landing at Pili airport at about 10 a.m., the President conferred with local officials while waiting for the plane bearing the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda R Marcos. After she arrived, the presidential party motored to the Marcos Stadium in the center of the town for the ceremonies awarding plaques and citations to American officials and military units involved in the relief and rescue operations fox typhoon victims.
From Pili, the President and party drove to Bato, another town, where the President distributed “credit cards” to barrio captains. Simultaneously, the First Lady distributed gift packages to the needy, in extension of her Maligayang Pasko 70 project.
It was about 12:30 p.m. when the President and his party drove back to Pili where they took off for the return trip to Manila.In the afternoon, the President worked at his desk, breaking off at about 4 p.m. to officiate at the markmanship award ceremonies of the Presidential Security Agency, held at Malacañang Park. The First Lady and children Imee, Bongbong and Irene also attended the affair.
The President also issued a proclamation declaring December 18, Friday, as a special public holiday in the city and province of Iloilo in honor of Graciano Lopez Jaena, one of the patriots of the Philippine Revolution, whose birth anniversary falls on that date.
I must practice my marksmanship.