We watched the Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali fight (Fight of the Century) or Fight of Champions—Joe Frazier has been undefeated in 26 fights 23 of which he won by knockouts and Ali has been undefeated in 31 fights 25 he won by knockouts.
Muhammad Ali or Cassius Clay was a big disappointment. From the beginning he was clinching although he did not backpedal as he had announced he would. His punches did not seem to be as hard or as fast as they were before retirement. And be tired easily. You could see that his retirement without a fight for three years had taken its toll on his reflexes. And he was overweight at 215 pounds when Joe Frazier was 205 1/2 and he fought Sonny Liston at 212 pounds.
Joe Frazier knocked him down on the 15th round with a low left hook after a clinch. But Ali went down because he was careless and tired. His arms were down and his jaw wide open.
Frazier won on a unanimous decision.
The SDK [Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan] met last week and it was seriously proposed and discussed to kidnap the First Lady (Imelda) and then tie her to a post naked.
Official Gazette for March 9, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS ordered the immediate recovery of over five million (5,000,000) cavans of palay deposited by the Rice and Corn Administration with some 150 bonded warehouses. He added that the stock should be placed at the disposal of the RCA.
The President issued the order in a memorandum to the secretaries of commerce and industry, and of agriculture and natural resources, and the RCA chairman, giving them one week within which to carry out his instructions.
The initial objective of the officials concerned, the President said, should be to recover some two million cavans of palay within that period.
Once again, the President suspended his schedule of callers in favor of working at his desk on important state business.
He worked all morning on government papers, among others signing the nominations of four employees in the judiciary due for promotion, and submitting the same to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation.
Appointed were:
1. Bonifacio V. Curso, as municipal judge of Kawayan, Leyte,
2. Arturo L. Juliano, as auxiliary municipal judge of Cabuyao, Laguna.
3. Mrs. Zosima Ramos-Oandasan, as special attorney in the Office of the Agrarian Counsel, Cagayan de Oro Regional Office.
4. Miss Aurea G. Peñalosa, as branch clerk of court, Court of First Instance of Camarines Norte, Branch I, in Daet.
In the afternoon, the President had one conference, with the officials of the Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration, with whom he discussed the means of improving the operations of the tobacco agency, particularly in making it possible for poor tobacco growers to benefit fully and immediately from their produce. He issued a series of directives to this effect.
The PVTA officials also submitted their resignations to afford the President a free hand in reorganizing the agency.
Present at the meeting were Chairman Federico B. Moreno and Directors Adriatico Golea, Ricardo Aguila and Taciano Ledda of the PVTA; Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata, Central Bank Governor Gregorio S. Licaros, BIR Commissioner Misael P. Vera and Jaime Mejia and Phil-Asia President Vicente Velasco, Jr.
After the meeting, the President resumed his desk work, remaining in his study through evening.
This shows the viciousness of the enemies we are fighting. First the kidnapping of Bongbong, now of Imelda.
And these are the evil men whom some of the intellectuals or pseudo-intellectuals are supporting. So are the media people giving them all-out aid.
I have been diagnosing the ills of our society. And I have come to the considered opinion that while the society and the social order needs restructuring because of our inherited illnesses, many of our weaknesses, our failures and illnesses are due to a rapacious, corrupt and vicious media.
Chino [Joaquin] Roces admits he is a leftist and his papers and TV and Radio facilities do not hesitate to falsify news.
The Chronicle as a wag says is chronically untrue and slanted not only because its owners are my political and personal enemies but is run by the communists—I.P. [Indalencio] Soliongco, Ernesto Granada, Renato Constantino, etc.
The Herald may be anti-Communist but the staff members and columnists in the natural inclination of newspapermen tend to yellow journalism.
The Bulletin helps occasionally but it is still engaged in over-dramatizing events to keep its circulation.
The intellectuals of the UP [University of the Philippines] and Ateneo [de Manila University], Lyceum, UE [University of the East], Far Eastern [University], etc. want to be fashionable and are reds.
The less said about ABS-CBN the better. It is the most vicious of all.
This is the difference between the communist rebellion of the 1950’s and now. In the 1950’s the communists had 14,000 armed men and now they may have about 2,000 but now they have the media, some students and labor or farmer leaders and some intellectuals.
This is more insidious as there is a strong bid to erode faith not only in the political leadership but in government and freedom itself.
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