We cast off from Pier 5 at 3:00 PM and rounded Cochinos Pt. into Talaga Bay at 5:00 PM. The low pressure area west of Mindoro has dissipated and the weather is good although the sky is overcast. The sea is calm and I took a nap after starting the book of [Albert Speer] Inside the Third Reich.
Cochinos Pt. which 315 ft. high is actually 48 hectares and used to be an observation point for the navy. It has sheer cliffs all around except at the neck connecting it to the Bataan peninsula. It is surprising how big it is.
We are sleeping on rough steel collapsible beds which Bongbong says is similar to their beds in Worth although their mattress is thinner and made of straw. The water is still weak and so the others have gone back to the boat to sleep.
Very windy in the terrace. So when Imee and Irene went into their beds and felt the lack of wind, they had their beds transferred to the porch in front of their room where it is really windy.
Official Gazette for December 19, 1970: President Marcos worked mostly at his desk, studying reports and state papers requiring his immediate attention. He had no prior schedule of visitors or conferences, but summoned to Malacañang Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile, Brig. Gen. Eduardo Garcia, PC chief; and Brig. Gen. Mariano Ordoñez, Metrocom chief, for a conference, during which the Chief Executive inquired into the report that the Metrocom “raided” the CIS headquarters.
At this instance, the PC and the Metrocom chiefs informed the President that the press report was less than accurate, since the so-called raid was merely a response to an alarm that armed civilians were acting suspiciously in the CIS area. The same response was made to a report that similarly unidentified armed civilians were in the premises of the ANCAR headquarters. Towards the end of the conference, the President also directed Secretary Enrile to loan to the city of Manila dump trucks to help Mayor Villegas solve the city garbage problem.Mayor Villegas had written Malacañang requesting the President to make available some army trucks for hauling of garbage from Manila streets.
The President also told Secretary Enrile to proceed with the preparations for the holding of a peace conference in Cotabato on Dec. 28, to arrest prevailing tension between Muslims and Tirurays.
Following his conference with Secretary Enrile and the PC and Metrocom chiefs, the President received Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo, who called at Malacañang straight from the airport upon his arrival from the U.S. where he attended the UN General Assembly sessions to report on the same and the Philippine delegation’s participation in the said assembly.In turn, the President congratulated the Foreign Affairs Secretary for his effective handling of the Philippine-sponsored resolutions on air hijacking; the need for a reappraisal of the UN charter; and on the rechanneling of savings from disarmament to aid for developing countries.
The President had no other visitors through the day, thus leaving him free to work at his desk.
Sec. [Carlos] Romulo arrived at 11:15 AM just as we were distributing bonuses from our private funds (one month’s salary in general) to the PSU [Presidential Security Unit], PGB [Presidential Guard Battalion] and Pasig Task Force which includes the Metrocom.
We gave honors to Sec. Romulo for a job well done. The Palace guards are in full regalia and the escort of honor received him. He had succeeded in the resolution against hijacking and the updating of the Charter of the United Nations. At the same time, he succeeded in his confidential mission about the blackmailing American girl [Dovie Beams?] who claimed to be close to George Randolph Hearst Sr. and Jr. When Mr. Berlin, the trustee, was told of the activities of this woman, he practically laid the law on them and stopped the article that was written by a former staff member for the Los Angeles Examiner of George Randolph Hearst Jr.
I settled the alleged seething rivalry between the Metrocom [Metropolitan Command] and the CIS [Criminal Investigation Service]. The newspapers alleged that the Metrocom had raided the CIS headquarters because of spite for the CIS report that two Metrocom men were the brains in a gang of holdup men which had perpetrated the robberies lately in Metropolitan Manila including the PLDT [Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company] holdup.
The supposed “raid” was actually just a routine arms check which was done throughout the camp, Camp Crame. But of course, the newspapers built it into something scandalous.
We finished the plans for the Cotabato peace conference which has also been exaggerated by the newspapers. And I directed Sec. [Juan] Ponce Enrile to lend some trucks to Manila for garbage collection.
Tonight we had beef barbecue in two spits with two calves, crackling shrimps, lechon, crabs, etc. Cong. Pablo Roman was the chief cook while Joe Rojas was the house manager. Lights are on and water in our room.
Too cold for swimming but the view is still impressive from the terrace.
Conferred on the Free Trade Zone and the development of Mariveles Port which is franchised to Asiatic Integrated.