Warned the congressmen of what Commander Melody [Benjamin Bie] (without mentioning his name) reported that he (Melody) and his men watched the deliberations in the House and the Senate for four consecutive days and that one of Melody’s men would have thrown some grenades into the session hall if Melody had not stopped him.
This shocked the congressman who frenziedly demanded security including exclusion of the public from the sessions.
P’/’resided over the Lanao del Norte peace conference of Gov. [Arsenio] Quibranza and Cong. [Mohammad] Ali Dimaporo with Delegate [Francisco] Abalos and Vice Gov. [Malamit] Umpah and mayors present.
Apparently somebody started using their guns and then there was retaliation. The first
Official Gazette for September 3, 1971: President Marcos conferred in the afternoon with the Christian and Muslim leaders of Lanao del Sur on the peace and order situation in the province.
During the conference, the President ordered Gov. Arsenio Quibranza to stay put in the province in order to be able to discharge his primary responsibility of maintaining peace and order in his province and to allay the fears of the people who are evacuating. The President also directed Quibranza to gather all the mayors and inform them of their responsibility for the maintenance of peace and order in their respective municipalities. The President said he would send a task force to disarm and apprehend all unauthorized persons carrying firearms in the province.
After hearing the charges and counter-charges hurled by Rep. Ali Dimaporo and Gov. Quibranza against each other’s men, the President observed that it was similar to the case of South Cotabato. “I am going to organize a task force and this task force will go after anybody, whether Nacionalista or Liberal, Christian or Muslim, and anybody who disturbs the peace and order will be apprehended and prosecuted,” the President said. The President scheduled a conference in Baroy, Lanao del Norte with all local officials, and civic and religious leaders of the province, and asked Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile to preside on his behalf.
Present at the conference, which lasted for almost two hours, were Defense Undersecretary Efren I. Plana, Vice Governor Malamit Umpa, Board Members V. Janial, Sheik Ampang and M. Bartolome; Delegate to the Constitutional Convention Francisco Abalos, and Mayors J. Perez of Tubod, S. Fernandez of Baroy, N. Solimbangon of Lala, P. Tawantawan of Salvador, M. Lobe of Kapatagan, J. Umpa of Sugod, L. Mutia of Tangcal and others.
Earlier in the day, the President received scheduled callers, including the participants in the seminar on modern land distribution and titling, who called at Malacañang in connection with the 70th anniversary of the Bureau of Lands. In his remarks, the President said that “the government is at present undertaking radical and massive land distribution program,” which he described as “the only kind of positive and constructive revolution that is legitimate in the country.” The group was accompanied to the President by Lands Director Vicente A. Valdellon.
The President then inducted into office four new brigadier generals and one commodore in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in the presence of members of Congress led by Speaker Cornelio T. Villareal, military top brass headed by General Manuel T. Yan, AFP chief of staff, and friends and close relatives of the inductees.
Sworn in were Brig. Gen. Wilfredo Encarnacion, commander of Task Force Pagkakaisa and deputy commander of the 4th PC Zone; Brig. Gen. Constante Ma. Cruz, commandant of the Command and General Staff College, AFP; Brig. Gen. Jose G. Syjuco, president of the National Defense College, AFP; Brig. Gen. Emilio E. Alcoseba, commanding general of the Third Army Brigade, Camp Lapu-Lapu; and Commodore Romulo M. Espeldon, vice commander of the Philippine Navy.
victims were Moslems, men of Cong. Ali Dimaporo. Now there are feuds and vendettas like Ilocos Sur.
I have ordered the saturation of the province with a task force under Lt. Col. [Cirilo] Bueno, Prov. Co. [Provincial Commander] of Bukidnon.
Ambassador [Henry] Byroade seems to be involved with [Sergio] Serging Osmeña [Jr.] and [Benigno] Ninoy Aquino [Jr.]. And now that there is evidence against Ninoy Aquino, he commented to Imelda that all that we have is circumstantial.
And he seems tense. The other night he went uninvited to the house of Danny [Daniel] and Ising [Maria Luisa] Vazquez with Jim Rafferty and although Danny kept his pajamas on, they stayed one hour. And when Danny asked the following day what exactly the visit was all about, Jimmy said the Ambassador wanted to suggest that Imelda should not go to the U.S.
Serging Osmena may be close to the Ambassador and Jim Rafferty as he has been giving them girls. And we strongly suspect that they were for him during the elections of 1969.
And the Ambassador kept reminding Imelda to watch out for our security. He seems to either know something or he does not want us to campaign.
Anyway the malicious purpose is there to use any bit of news to undermine the efforts of government and the President to unite the people against communism.
The intention is to lull the people and the leaders into complacency.
Or the Ambassador is worried that the facts of his identification with the opposition (after the Plaza Miranda rally he is alleged to have said when visiting Serging Osmena, “Democracy is dead in the Philippines”) or his pecadillos and his mistaken assessment of the situation in relation to the communists who have turned out to be stronger than they thought.
Anyway, he is acting strangely.