Official Gazette for January 24, 1973: STRONG LEADERSHIP was exercised by President Marcos when he imposed Martial Law because it was his duty to save the old society from its festering diseases and lead the nation on the road to health and progress for future generations of Filipinos. “The President did not grab power or assume the position of dictator but like a surgeon, performed his duty without being disturbed or distracted by internal or external forces to save the patient (old society),” Secretary of Public Information Francisco S. Tatad declared in an extemporaneous speech during the 17th annual convention of the Philippine Association of Military Surgeons. Secretary Tatad traced the charge of dictatorship to some sections of the foreign press and to certain local groups whose personal ambitions and self-interests were negated by the bold reforms of the President under the New Society. The secretary pointed out that above the selfish individual interests of the few dissenters is the national welfare which motivated the President to impose Martial Law because like the military surgeons it was his duty to save the patient.
SECRETARY OF LABOR Blas F. Ople officially informed the unions of government controlled or operated corporations that they were being placed under the civil service in accordance with Section 1, Subtitle B of Article XIII (The Constitutional Commissions) of the new Constitution, which went into force at noontime of Jan. 17. Secretary Ople met with the heads of the government corporate unions to seek; their cooperation in putting into effect smoothly the Constitutional provision. He told the unions that some legal points, including the question of the duration of collective bargaining agreements, have been referred to the secretary of justice. However, the Constitutional provisions placing government owned and controlled corporations under the Civil Service Law was “clear and unequivocal,” according to Sec. Ople.
SECRETARY OPLE likewise stated in a speech before the Davao Jaycees that the Philippines can be “the new Asian prodigy” to watch in the next few years as Filipinos focus all their energies and talents on development goals. The Labor secretary said that while “our neighbors such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore spurted ahead economically and socially, the Filipinos allowed themselves to be distracted by incessant party politics which sapped their energies and vitality as well as their resources.” But under Martial Law, Mr. Ople said the government and the people are now insulated for the first time from the crippling interference of partisan politics. Therefore, many people feel that a long tenacious bondage has been snapped and the nation is now free to concentrate on its development goals, he added.
PRESIDENT MARCOS issued General Order No. 24 authorizing the arrest and detention of any person who commits crimes against personal liberty as defined and penalized under the Revised Penal Code. The crimes covered by the order are kidnapping and serious illegal detention, slight illegal detention, unlawful arrest, kidnaping and failure to return a minor inducing a minor to abandon his home slavery, exploitation of child labor and compulsion of anybody to render services in payment of debts. Crimes against personal liberty are now under the jurisdiction of the military courts.
IN BEHALF OF THE FILIPINO people, President Marcos expressed hope that the announcement of a ceasefire in Vietnam will bring about a true kind of peace in Indochina and remove the threats to peace in Southeast Asia and in the world. The President’s statement followed the simultaneous announcements in Vietnam. The President’s statement in full:
“The Philippine Government welcomes the announcement that a ceasefire has been reached, and is shortly to take effect in Vietnam. We, in the Philippines, hope that this will bung about a true kind of peace in Indochina, and that it will remove the threats to peace in Southeast Asia and the world. We congratulate the parties for their labors and their courage in drawing up a document that fulfills the hopes and prayers of so many, and adds new prospects to the future of human understanding cooperation and brotherhood.
“Enforcing and consolidating the peace is always a difficult undertaking, but given the goodwill and the determination that moved the negotiating parties to reach this agreement, we are confident that this will mark a new period in the life of Southeast Asia. With the settlement of the war, the developing nations of the region, beginning with Vietnam, can now fully develop, not only to rebuild the ruins of war, but rather to move ahead to the full limits of progress.
“To us, this day is a victory for peoples all over the world who pray and work for peace.
“In our own modest way, we have sought to contribute to this quest for peace. We have sought to humanize the
Had as usual only 6 hours sleep and seem to be tense because of the possible constitutional crisis that may come out of an adverse Supreme Court decision on the petition against the ratification of the new constitution.
So I worked up to 12:00 AM on the presentation of the problems we are facing and the absolute necessity of referring the matter to the citizen’s assemblies as well as the possible approaches and solutions.
Then worked on the orders implementing the New Constitution.
As I tentatively meet all the members of the Supreme Court on Saturday or Monday evening. The Chief Justice called up Sol. Gen. Estellito Mendoza Monday morning Jan. 22nd, to tell him that the Court was at the disposal of the President for dinner.
Pres. [Lyndon B.] Johnson died yesterday sent condolences.
This morning Amb. [Henry] Byroade left for the U.S. He told me his parents are getting old and may die.
Pres. [Richard] Nixon announced that the ceasefire in Vietnam was initiated this morning and will be signed and in effect on the 27th. I also appeared on TV on this.
cruelty and sufferings of war. We sent the Philcag and the Philcon to Vietnam not to kill but to heal, not to take life but to preserve it, not to destroy but to build. For we could not help but be involved in the agony of the human spirit in Vietnam.
“Today, as peace begins to find its way in Vietnam, we see our own share of conflict in our land. Ambition and ideology have combined to mobilize certain forces against our government and our people.
“I ask those fighting the government to now put down their arms. I call upon my brother Filipinos—whatever their ideology or persuasion, Moslem or Christian, communist or democrat, Nacionalista or Liberal, to lay down the weapons of war and take up the tools of peace.
“Let us build a nation in strength and unity, and let us build it now.”
In a separate statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Carlos P. Romulo said:
“President Nixon’s announcement that a ceasefire in Vietnam has been agreed upon ends a cruel war that has weighed heavily on the conscience of the world. We must all hope that the cessation of hostilities will lead, m the not too distant future, to the final political settlement of the status of the entire Vietnamese people.
“The Vietnam ceasefire is a historic point in the lives of Vietnamese the Asians and the world at large. To a generation of Vietnamese that has not known peace, the end of the war means their first real opportunity to build a future. To Asians, it means the end of perpetual tension and grave threats to regional security. To the world at large, it removes a source of friction that has been a constant threat to international security.
“We must now turn to the considerable problems brought about by the termination of the Vietnam War. Among these, the foremost will be the national and regional security in Southeast Asia. We must plan for the reconstruction and development of the devastated areas. We must also begin to think seriously of the shape of Asia that will emerge from the holocaust of the Vietnam war.”