12:00 PM June 22, 1971
I write this one day late as we were too busy yesterday preparing for the funeral and necrological services of Pres. Carlos P. Garcia during the day and at night we gave a 12 course Chinese dinner at the music room for Joe and Eileen Kingsbury-Smith which took us up to 1:30 AM. Since we had to wake up at 6:00 AM. I decided to postpone writing this diary.
In the dinner, amidst light banter and laughter, what I have always consider as one of my most precious treasures come out—my romance with Imelda; how I won her hand in eleven days; the mosquitos that drove her to the cafeteria of Congress where I was to see her and desperately try to get introduced formally until Cong. Jacobo Gonzales (who did not know her himself) introduced me; how I asked her to stand up and she did unquestioningly (she says because I was much older and she had to show some respect for age) and I measured her height
Official Gazette for June 21, 1971: President Marcos constituted an interim inter-agency committee which will coordinate and centralize all activities to Sangley Point. The official turn-over of the United States naval base at Sangley Point to the Philippine government was scheduled for September 1. A development plan for the eventual use and land allocation of the naval base has been prepared. Other preparatory work and pertinent analytical studies pertaining to the eventual transfer of Sangley Point had also been conducted.
Named to the committee were the director-general of the Presidential Economic Staff or his representative, as chairman; and the chairman of the Board of Investment, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the administrator of Economic Coordination, the Flag Officer-in-Command of the Philippine Navy, Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force and the Director-General of the National Manpower and Youth Council or their representatives, as members. The governor of Cavite, the mayor of Cavite City, the chairman of the Cavite Socio-Economic Council, and the president of the Filipino Employees Association of U.S. Bases in the Philippines could seat as ex-officio members in the Committee on an invitation basis.
At past noon, the President and the First Lady, Imelda R. Marcos, had as luncheon guests Administrator David Hamil of the U.S. Rural Electrification Administration and Mrs. Hamil who arrived in Manila recently in the course of a tour of U.S. assisted projects in Asia. During the luncheon, the President received assurance from the U.S. Agency for International Development that is would continue to support the rural electrification program of the government, aimed at providing cheap electric power in the rural areas and improve the living conditions in outlying regions.
Among other luncheon guests at Malacañang were U.S. Ambassador Henry A Byroade, Director and Mrs. Thomas C. Niblock of USAID in Manila, Acting Executive Secretary Roberto V. Reyes, Chairman Gerardo Sicat of the National Economic Council, PACD Secretary Rosendo Marquez and Chairman Geronimo Velasco of the Electrification Administration.
Marcos presented the guests with special leather-bound editions of the facsimiles of Jose Rizal’s Noli me tangere and El Filibusterimo, offered for sale by Baumann Rare Books in New York, that are inscribed as follows: In the Noli “June 21, 1971. Malacanang Palace. Manila, Philippines. To our friends Eileen and Joe, May this facsimile of the original manuscript of Rizal’s novel that laid the moral basis for the Philippine Revolution of 1896 remind you of the country of more than seven thousand islands. Ferdinand Marcos”; in the Fili, “June 21, 1971. Malacanang Palace. Manila, Philippines. To Eileen and Joe, This is the other novel of the Philippine national hero, who, long before 1896 sought reforms for his country, not revolution. May this remind you of our passionate efforts to recast our social structure. Affectionately, Ferdinand Marcos.” Another book, The Second Marcos Inaugural by Ileana Maramag inscribed by Marcos: “June 21, 1971 Malacanang Palace, Manila Philippines To Eileen land Joe, With affection and best wishes, F. E. Marcos.” is listed for sale at universtyarchives.com
against mine back to back and proclaimed the verdict that she would do as I was taller than her (little did I know that she was actually taller than me as she was in flat heeled slippers and I had my shoes on); the two roses; her dressing up to attract me with the most colorful skirt and low-cut peasant blouse, her hair hung on braids several hours before so it would look soft and wavy when she let it fall up to her knees when she met me; my pompous declaration that I had found the girl I was going to marry and when questioned if she had given her consent answering that that should be a small problem; her decision secretly that I was the man she was going to marry and my observation that if I had known that early we could have saved a lot of money; her appetite when she ate the two chickens we had ordered, one for each of us, while I quoted poetry, Whitman, Shakespeare and Tagore or Omar Khayyam; the trip to Baguio with the children; my singing to her not knowing that she was a voice culture scholar at the Women’s University; singing “Toreador, don’t spit on the floor, use the cuspidor, Toreador x x x”; my silence when before our church wedding she sung “I have so little to give”; the judge (Francisco Chanco of Trinidad) whom I kept waiting in the car ready to marry us whenever she should ever say “Yes”; the signing of our marriage contract on Good Friday; the comedy of the ceremony conducted by Judge Chanco on Saturday, with the long sermon, his repeated inquiry if I would not later seek an annulment and his “Well Good Luck to all of us” when the ceremony was over; her refusal to live with me until the religious ceremony; the discovery that baptism by the revolutionary priest Aglipay, was not a Catholic baptism; a baptism by the priest in Lourdes Church; the dismay of her family for having such a pagan son-in-law—etc. etc.