I attach the communications on the sugar quota problem. We want to keep our quota of 1,500,000 tons provided for by the Laurel-Langley agreement plus 47.22% of the deficiency of the Puerto Rico quota and the American increase of their consumption.
But the domestic producers of the U.S. want at least 300,000 to 500,000 tons for Florida, Louisiana and Texas (the latter at the instance of Chairman [William Robert] Poage of the Agriculture Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives who incidentally says that the Philippines has never filled up our quota, the best performance having been in 1970 when we exported 1,300,000 tons to the U.S. But with our new mills we should easily export our quota of 1,500,000).
And the Latin-American countries are asking for more quotas.
Official Gazette for February 20, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS officiated at the inauguration in the afternoon of the prefabricated low-cost house factory of the National Housing Corporation at Tala, Caloocan City.
The President delivered the main address and pushed the lever activating the porous cement block factory while the First Lady, Imelda R. Marcos, unveiled the markers.
In his brief remarks, the President said that the administration has embarked on a massive low-cost housing program in order to narrow the gap between the actual needs for housing and the actual rate of construction,
He said that the NHC is the administration’s answer to all the dreams and aspirations of the poor to own houses they could call their own.
“We dedicate this vast production complex we are now inaugurating,” the President said, “to the small man, in accordance with our pledge in my state-of-the-nation address to launch a democratic revolution.”
The President confined himself to his private study the whole morning working on state papers, in the course of which he issued an executive order reconstituting the Committee on Wood Industries Development (CWID) and two proclamations, one declaring the first week of March of every year as “Better Environment Week,” creating a committee to take charge of its observance; and the other setting the period from March 29 to April 4, 1971 as “Tax Consciousness Week.”
The President reconstituted the CWID in view of the capabilities for rapid growth and expansion of the local wood industry.
The President stressed the need for the accelerated development o the country’s wood industry as a vital factor of the country’s economic program, and proposed that the government provide a stable environment for the industry, in return for which a fair share of the proceeds of forest products and services would go to the government.
In proclaiming Better Environment Week, the President pointed on that the health, welfare, and general well-being of the people depend on the quality of the country’s physical environment.
It is important, he said, to foster public consciousness of the importance of good environment, which could be maintained through the conservation, wise utilization and development of natural resources, including national parks, wildlife, and marine resources, as well as the wise use of land, water and air.
The President proclaimed Tax Consciousness Week because of the need of instilling into the citizenry a greater awareness of their obligations as citizens, and of underscoring the taxpayer’s role in promoting economic progress and in pursuing nation-building.
It is the civic obligation and patriotic duty of every citizen to pay his just taxes promptly, the President said.
The first two pages of this entry are missing.
The best that can happen now would be an extension of the present sugar act for even two years when we would be able to fill up our quota and thus not be asked to reduce because of non-performance.