The planned attack by the NPA [New People’s Army] against the Tarlac Prov. [Provincial] PC [Philippine Constabulary] Hdq., Candaba, Arayat and La Paz Municipal Halls did not come off as expected.
But the 1st PC Zone is still on red alert.
We celebrated or remembered the Fall of Bataan quietly but impressively. Wreath laying at Libingan Ng Mga Bayani with Ambassador [Henry] Byroade then at the American Battle Monuments at 8:30 and 9:00 AM respectively.
This afternoon we had a sunset ceremony of laying the wreath on the waters at Manila Bay opposite Mt. Samat. The Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor took charge and I did not deliver a speech at all but left it to Commodore Jose Andrada (Retired).
After arrival at 9:00 PM, we went to Nayon Pilipino where I started to drive the whole
Official Gazette for April 9, 1971: Except for his attendance at the commemorative ceremonies marking the 29th anniversary of Bataan Day, President Marcos otherwise had another relatively quiet day as the nation paused in observance of Good Friday.
The President motored to the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio, Rizal at about 8 a.m. for the commemorative rites. He led in laying wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
From the Libingan, the commemorative ceremonies shifted to the nearby U.S. Military Cemetery, where the same rites were held.
Later in the afternoon, the President motored to Pier 15 where he boarded the RPS 777 for the Bataan Day commemorative rites at sea, off Mariveles, Bataan.
Among others present at the ceremonies were AFP top brass led by Gen. Manuel T. Yan, chief of staff; Brig. Generals Rafael Ileto, Fidel Ramos and Eduardo Garcia; Rep. Ramon D. Bagatsing, and Ernesto Rufino, past president of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and other officers of veterans organizations, including Mrs. Charles Shaw, national president of the American Legion Auxiliary.
In-between the commemorative ceremonies, the President confined his other activities only to the most urgent state business.
In his Bataan, Day message issued earlier, the President said:
Once again we commemorate the Fall of Bataan, in remembrance of those who fell in the last war. Almost three decades have now passed since that clay in Bataan, and perhaps we only dimly remember their heroism in the relative calm of our times.
Yet the long span of the years has not diminished the significance of their sacrifice; rather it assumes a new meaning at this time of self-confrontation.
For if in time of war, it took heroes to keep this nation from the rule of tyrants, it takes the same kind of heroism to move this nation in time of peace.
Neither can we forget that the world we live in today is haunted by a tenuous, if not a violent and volatiles, peace.
The wars that continue to rage in Asia and the Middle East inflict a deep wound upon the hearts of men everywhere, but especially upon us who have paid the supreme exactions of war.
The history of Bataan and the men who died there continue to strengthen our bonds with all those who must, today or tomorrow, fight for their peace and freedom.
family around in the Marquis (a Mecury convertible Model 70) then drove them back to Malacañang with the top down, with the two girls laughingly screaming as I sometimes lifted my two hands off the wheel on “Commence Exercise.”
We are reprinting the Winston Churchill article on Revolution and the communists which was written 41 years ago and printed anew on the February issue of Readers Digest.
It is a simple and clear digest of the insidious plan and action of communism.