1:00 AM November 20, 1971
We have just come back from the Cultural Center where we saw the opera Aida which was presented by the Cultural Center and the Music Foundation of the Philippines. I attach the program.
Official Gazette for November 19, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS had a comparatively quiet day as far as visitors were concerned. He however put in a full day’s work on state matters, including much paper work.
The President started the day by motoring to Camp Crame to address METROCOM troopers shortly before they departed for a six-week basic training stint in Fort Magsaysay, Laur, Nueva Ecija.
In his brief address, the President underscored the importance of the basic training the troopers would undertake.
Present at the send-off ceremonies were General Manuel T. Yan, AFP chief of staff; and Brigadier Generals Eduardo M. Garcia and Mariano Ordoñez, chiefs of the PC and Metrocom, respectively.
The President was back in Malacañang at 10:30 a.m.
Half an hour later, the President received at separate ceremonies the letters of credence of the new envoys of Mexico and Thailand namely, Ambassadors Pablo Padilla Ramirez of Mexico and Swate Komalabhuti of Thailand.
In accepting the letters of credence of Ambassador Ramirez, the President expressed satisfaction over the growth through the decades of the bonds of amity and friendship “which historically united our two countries.”
The President at the same time assured the new envoy that “my administration shall continue to exert effort to further strengthen the existing foundation of brotherly collaboration between our two governments and peoples.”
In response to Ambassador Komalabhuti, the President said the Philippines and Thailand could intensify “our efforts to cooperate more closely on the important issues that can contribute to peace and prosperity, particularly in our region,” and in the fields of mutually beneficial endeavors.”
The Thai envoy, after citing the long history of friendship and close relations between the Philippines and his country, said that as members of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, the Association of South Pacific and Asian Countries, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the two countries had been fully cooperating with each other and with the other member countries.
Ambassador Ramirez replaced former Ambassador Federico Barrera Fuentes of Mexico, while Ambassador Komalabhuti replaced former Thai Ambassador Chitamye Amatayakul.
Present at the ceremonies were Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo, Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata, Secretary of General Services Constancio E. Castañeda, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., and undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs Jose D. Ingles and Manuel Collantes.
The President then received callers, among them Rev. Charles F. Maher, S.S.C., parish priest of Ozamis City, and Fr. James Reuter, national director of mass media section of the Catholic Hierarchy in the Philippines, who made personal calls.
Also received by the President were Governors Tito Primicias of Pangasinan, Ignacio Santiago of Bulacan and Jose Legaspi of Aklan; Mayor Jose Villanueva of Iriga City, and Governor-elect Carlos Cajelo of Cotabato, all of whom consulted the President on local problems.
While working on state papers in the afternoon, the President appointed 13 Liberal Party nominees to vacancies in the provincial boards and city councils, which were left vacant by Liberal incumbents who resigned and run for other elective positions.
The appointment of the LP nominees was in accordance with the Decentralization Law, which provides that the party of which the officials who left the positions belong has the right to recommend persons who should fill up such vacant positions.
Appointed to provincial boards were Pacifico Lejano (Batangas) and Luis Vizcocho (Quezon). Named to city councils were Joaquin Jalandoon (Bago City), Jose Legaspi (Cavite City), Remberto Herceda (Gen. Santos City), Ernesto Ventura and Nicanor J. V. Santos (Pasay City), Paquito Arrieta and Benjamin Villarin (Dumaguete City), Fermin Palisoc (San Carlos City [Pangasinan]), Dominador Natividad (Zamboanga City), and Hilario Batralo and Servillano Abril (San Pablo City).
The “coup” by Prime Minister [Thanom] Kitticachorn in Thailand is confirmed by the reports of our embassy in Bangkok. I attach their reports.
I am preparing for the meeting of the Foreign Policy Council tomorrow. The materials prepared by the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] I hereby include in Envelope XI-Q.
It is noticeable that as usual Sec. [Carlos] Romulo somehow leaves the impression that it was he who initiated a review of our foreign policy; that he proposes more nonconventional training for our troops; that he proposes a ten-year limitation of US military bases etc.—
All these, of course, are my instructions. Sec. [Jose] Ingles in his background on neutralization does the same. Instead of conducting an in-depth study of questions I have raised, he repeats them as if they were his own.
The bureaucracy is woefully lacking in originality and initiative.
And the supposed technocrats lack courage to make decisions. Their favourite game is to give both sides of a question without recommendation and pass the decision to the next man.
I went to Camp Crame to bid goodbye to the PC [Philippine Constabulary] Metrocom [Metropolitan Command] whom I am sending to the Urban Guerrilla Training Course in Fort Magsaysay at 10:00 AM. They will have to be there during the holidays.
We are preparing for possible street fighting in Manila and the spread of terrorism and sabotage.
Yet the other night Justice [Antonio] Barredo informed me that ex-Justice [Arsenio] Dizon tenaciously clung to his position that the NPA’s [New People’s Army] were plain bandits! What kind of justices do we have?