Bongbong arrived from London at five minutes to eight tonight by PAL [Philippine Airlines] with Lord Headfort [Thomas Taylour, 6th Marquess of Headfort] of Ireland, the prospective husband of Nena [Virginia] Nable and a rich member of the House of Lords of England being one of five Marquises (The rankings are Prince, Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, Earl etc.????).
Sec. of National Defense J. [Juan] Ponce Enrile reports after coming from Diguyo, Palanan and the first NPA [New People’s Army] camp that the NPA’s most probably succeeded in fleeing with more guns than we captured and the worse part is that in the NPA camps the boxes for rocket launchers were found but the contents had been apparently brought by the retreating NPA’s. This portends more serious and massive attacks on convoys, installations and perhaps urban centers.
One of the disturbing finds is large dry batteries, possibly mortars and according to Gomez who has a plane and actually saw the unloading of Karagatan, a wheeled gun (probably a mountain gun or a mortar) was unloaded in Divinisa.
So I have ordered the Ysmael road from Maddela as well as the Laur-Dingalan road to be closed so that no heavy equipment can be brought out.
In the meantime the sweep of the area starts tomorrow from Dingalan.
Some of the M-14 rifles were brought in Gen. [Jose] Rancudo tonight. We went to Base Operations to see them. They have only the markings M-14 with some kind of serial number but no manufacturers mark or country of origin.
Official Gazette for July 16, 1972: THE PRESIDENT accompanied by Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Arturo R. Tanco, Jr. and Plant Industry Director Eliseo Carandang, boarded the presidential Fokker plane at 7 a.m. at Nichols Air Base and conducted an aerial survey of Bulacan, Rizal, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan and part of Zambales.
Following the survey, the President decided to push through passage of the ₱250 million special calamity fund and the regional typhoon moderation project in Asia.
At the same time, the President directed Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo to lodge a strong protest against the holding of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Some Filipino scientists believe such tests affect the weather conditions of the regions.
The President also ordered a restudy of the plans for the proposed Labangan Channel as an exit for flood waters in the Pampanga—Bulacan area, as well as the rushing of the Chico and Upper Pampanga (Pantabangan) river control projects.
In the evening, the President and the First Lady, together with their two daughters, motored to the Manila International Airport (MIA) to meet their son Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong), who planed in from London to spend his summer vacation here.
The actual ranking in descending order is Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.
Two months ago there was an Intelligence report of a big shipment of arms from Amsterdam. And some of the pulleys to bring the heavy equipment across the ravines were discovered. They are made in Norway.
Lt. Bautista of the UOU [Underwater Operations Unit] recovered 24 more M-14 rifles in the sea at Diguyo at 12 fathoms. They were wrapped in preservatives oil or grease. They could not recover the others (including ammo boxes) because there were sharks around.
Commander Pusa [Benjamin Sanguyo] has started to attack AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] installations in Capas, Concepcion and other towns in Tarlac. Apparently a diversion to keep the troops from Isabela.
I attach reports.
The media, specially the newspapers, have forfeited their right to freedom of the press. They have abused it to the point where they actually seek to falsify news.
The prime example is the “Karagatan” case and the fighting in Palanan.
There must be some way to prevent these irresponsible advocates of not press freedom but press tyranny from weakening the state and the democracy that gives them the liberty that their friends, the communists, seek to destroy.
[Joaquin] Chino Roces, Juan Mercado, [Amando] Doronila, [Ernesto] Granada, the ABS-CBN TV-radio group, Renato Constantino, even the Bulletin and the Herald are guilty of this abuse.
Our informants tell us that they have met and agreed to belittle the communist gun-running and the NPA training camp in Diguyo.
I have a clear conscience in fighting them.