The Foreign Policy Council was well attended.
Pres. [Diosdado] Macapagal, Sen. Gerardo Roxas, Sen. [Lorenzo] Tañada, Cong. Salipada Pendatun, Delegate Raul Manglapus, Delegate [Felino] Neri, Sen. Pres. [Gil] Puyat, Speaker [Cornelio] Villareal, Chino [Joaquin] Roces, Hans Menzi, Sabastian Ugarte, Joe Luna Castro, Amante Bigornia, [Miguel] Arambulo of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary representative, the former Secretaries of Foreign Affairs like Sec. [Narciso] Ramos were there. They were all active in discussion.
Gens. [Manuel] Yan, [Fidel] Ramos, [Rafael] Ileto, [Eduardo] Garcia, [Jesus] Singson and Commodore [Dioscoro] Papa were there as resource personnel.
Pres. Macapagal informed us of the sentiment of the convention for the Philippines to be perpetually neutralized. He inquired about the plans for a self-reliant Armed Force.
I attach the instructions to the delegation to Kuala Lumpur headed by Sec. [Carlos] Romulo.
And I gave instructions to Sec. Romulo and Gen. Yan that our plan now is eventual
Official Gazette for November 20, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS presided over the meeting of the Foreign Policy Council, held at the Malacañang state dining room, on the Malaysian proposal for the neutralization of Southeast Asia which was tabled for discussion in Kuala Lumpur by the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from November 24 to 27.
Following a discussion of the Malaysian proposal, the Council recommended to the President instructions to Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo, head of the Philippine delegation to Kuala Lumpur.
The Council’s recommendation was that there be a shift in foreign policy to give accommodation to new realities.
The Council also begun discussions on the question of relations with the socialist and communist countries of the world, including the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
During the conference, the President directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to keep the individual members of the Council constantly informed on significant developments all over the world.
Present at the meeting, which lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., were Senate President Gil J. Puyat, Speaker Cornelio T. Villareal, Constitutional Convention President Diosdado Macapagal, Senator and LP President Gerardo M. Roxas, Senator and Nationalist Citizens Party President Lorenzo M. Tañada; Constitutional Convention Delegate and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Raul S. Manglapus, House Majority Floor Leader Marcelino Veloso;
Rep. Nicanor Yñiguez, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee; Rep. Salipada K. Pendatun; Secretaries Carlos P. Romulo of Foreign Affairs. Cesar E. A. Virata of Finance, Vicente Abad Santos of Justice and Efren I. Plana of National Defense; Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad; and former Secretaries of Foreign Affairs Felino Neri and Narciso Ramos.
Also present were Miguel Arambulo, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Gov. Benjamin Campomanes of the Rotary Club, and publishers and editors of metropolitan newspapers.
The President had a brief rest in the afternoon, and then worked on official papers and other matters of state till early evening.
neutralization after five to ten years of preparations for defense.
We must first find out what the reaction of the big powers is to our plan of neutralization, although Pres. Macapagal is for our country declaring a policy of neutralization alone, free of the United States and any other country.
Sec. Romulo will report by long distance on the evening of the first day of the Kuala Lumpur conference.
Then I can call a Foreign Policy Casual meeting the following day, the 25th.
We started discussing the question of trade and diplomatic relations with Socialist countries including Russia and China. We will continue the discussions in the next meetings.
All members will now be informed of international events of importance like the THAI “coup.”
The Foreign Policy Council papers are in Envelope XI-U und others in XI-W.