1:20 AM Dec. 16th
Presentation of credentials of the Iranian and Mexican ambassadors.
Interview of Jack Doughty of Seattle Times of Hearst Publications on Land Reform.
Armand Fabella has refused to accept the position of President of the PNB [Philippine National Bank].
So we may have to fall back on an insider, possibly Panfilo Domingo who is now assigned to London on International Operations.
Official Gazette for December 15, 1972: PRESIDENT MARCOS emphasized the role of medical leaders in distributing equally the limited medical resources and skills of the country “so that we do not wind up taking good care of only the affluent while forgetting and condemning to an early death the rest of the population.”
In a speech before the Philippine Hospital Association read for him by Dr. Pacifico E. Marcos, Medicare chairman, the President said that the degree by which health services in a developing country can be raised depends on the degree in which a nation is able to muster its resources for economic development.
DR. MARCOS, for his part, advised hospital administrators to prepare for more participation in the Medicare Program because of its expanded services planned for 1973. The Medicare chief thanked hospital officials for their full cooperation in the initial nine months of medicare implementation which was “very successful”. He, however, expressed regret that some hospitals were at first reluctant to cooperate. He said nonetheless that these hospitals are blameless because “they wanted to prove first our statement that payment under medicare is guaranteed.” Dr. Marcos said the Medicare Program has been moving very fast but it will maintain a faster pace in 1973.
ONE THOUSAND three-room typhoon-resistant school buildings designed to withstand wind velocities up to 140 miles per hour will be constructed by the Bureau of Public Works and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 24 provinces of Luzon. The construction will be facilitated by the project agreement between the National Economic Council and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The agreement provides that the US AID will reimburse the Philippines in the amount of $3 million for the construction of said school buildings and will provide $200,000 worth of jeeps, pick-ups and dump trucks for said construction.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS Secretary Carlos P. Romulo reported that the 27th General Assembly of the United Nations has been one of the most fruitful for the Philippines from the standpoint of substantial benefits gained for the Filipino people. Mr. Romulo who is chairman of the Philippine delegation to the assembly, said that the Philippine delegation “benefited from the foresight of President Marcos who, as early as two years ago, had given instructions that the work of the Philippine mission to the UN should be development-oriented.
JUSTICE SECRETARY Vicente Abad Santos requested all district judges in the country to act favorably and expeditiously on the motions that may be filed by Comelec provincial supervisors and election registrars for the withdrawal of precinct books of voters which might be presently in the custody of the courts. Secretary Santos noted that these books are needed by the corresponding boards of inspectors, otherwise they cannot prepare the current list of voters. He said that since precinct books of voters will be used in the 1973 plebiscite, the judges should allow the books to be withdrawn even if they are presently in the custody of the courts in connection with pending election cases or criminal cases for violations of the election law.
ENGLISH AND Filipino texts of the proposed Constitution of the Philippines were printed, in full in the December 11 issue of the Official Gazette. The publication was in compliance with Sec. 2 of Presidential Decree No. 73 dated December 1, 1972 which also required the printing of the proposed charter in three issues of at least two newspapers of national circulation not later than two weeks before the plebiscite.
First NEDA [National Economic Development Authority] meeting.
While the members were talking of routinary matters, I called attention to the role of Neda—to think boldly and not merely follow the traditional and classic solutions to problems.
Thus on unemployment—a Civilian Construction Corp. or Civilian Corp. of Engineers for unemployed.
Use the economic power of the president under martial law.