The AP [Associated Press] president Stan Swinton came to see me—a courtesy call and interview. The second biggest story of New York Times (Front page and full page in page 14) is the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the U.S. Senate that an American killer was hired to kill me and involved were the Vice President and that under detention in the Philippines were Eugenio Lopez Jr. and others (their pictures were included).
Gov. [Benjamin] Romualdez called up from New York to tell me that this story has somehow presented the dangers we were facing in the Philippines before martial law. And presented me and the Philippines in a better light.
Official Gazette for February 19, 1973: THE PRESIDENT signed a decree penalizing the theft of government property by any government employee or laborer. The Presidential decree ordered that “any employee or laborer who shall steal any, material, spare part, product or article that he is working on, using or producing shall, upon conviction, be punished with imprisonment ranging from prision correctional to prision mayor.” All laws inconsistent with the decree were repealed or modified accordingly, unless they provided, a heavier penalty. The decree was made a part of the law of the land and to take effect immediately after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
LAND BANK BONDS may not be legally used in payment of rentals of government properties, according to the provisions of Sec. 85 of the Code of Agrarian Reforms which enumerates the purposes for which Land Bank bonds may be utilized. Secretary of Justice Vicente Abad Santos promulgated this legal opinion in reply to a question from the director of the Bureau of Building and Real Property Management. It was ruled, however, that the bonds may be used in consideration of the sale of government lands to private parties as provided for by paragraph one of Sec. 85 of the Agrarian Reform Code which specifies, as one of the purposes for which bonds may be used, “payment for agrarian lands or other real properties purchased from the government.”
BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE announced the availability of a new BIR form for income tax purposes for use of Filipinos residing abroad. Known as BIR Form 1701-C, the form has been designed to meet the requirements of Presidential Decree No. 69 taxing non-resident citizens on their gross income earned abroad. A non-resident Filipino citizen becomes subject to taxation under Presidential Decree No. 69 if he has stayed abroad for an uninterrupted period covering at least an entire taxable year. He shall be taxed on his gross income at the following rates: 1) One per cent of gross income abroad not exceeding $6,000; 2) Two per cent of gross income abroad exceeding $6,000 but not exceeding $20,000; 3) Three per cent of gross income abroad exceeding $20,000; The new rates apply to income earned abroad beginning January 1972. BIR form 1701-C is exclusively for declaring income earned abroad. If a non-resident citizen has earned income both here and abroad/then two returns must be filed by him; one for income earned abroad using BIR form 1701-C, and another for income derived or earned from sources within the Philippines using either BIR Form 1701 or 1701-A Regardless of amount of income earned abroad, a not-resident citizen or Filipino is required to file income tax returns, the BIR said.
BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE also announced that the collection in specific taxes registered several increases this year. Collection m specific taxes for January 1973 alone reached P71,739,184.11, showing a 27 15 per cent increase over collections for the same month last year. For a seven-month period, from July 1972 to January 1973, total specific taxes paid amounted to P413,393,797.09 representing a P27.44 million over the July 1971 to January 1972 collections. The January 1973 collection is broken down as follows: P32,916,650.49, tobacco products; P15,737,261.13, alcohol products; P22,663,683.23, gasoline and oil products, and P421,589.26, cinematographic films. The increases were attributed to close supervision exercised over factories and establishments producing articles subject to specific taxes and the changed attitude of taxpayers since the imposition of Martial Law.
But I told Stan Swinton that our country was seeking an extradition treaty with the United States so that the guilty parties may be brought into Philippine jurisdiction, that these negotiations may be simultaneously held with the negotiations with the U.S. on the three military agreements (bases, mutual defense and military assistance) and the LaurelLangley agreement; but that I am trying to unite all Filipinos so I am studying the possibility of granting amnesty to even my personal enemies.
I also explained the policy in Mindanao and Sulu on the amnesty for the secessionists—the four classes of armed men who may be opposing our Armed Forces: 1. Those who refuse to surrender their firearms 2. Those who have a valid grievance like those who have been driven off the lands they have been cultivating for many years (like those driven from Weyrhauser and Western Mindanao Lumber in Basilan) 3. the outlaws 4. the hard core communists and foreign-trained troops.
And that we would like to separate at least the first two classes from the rest as we do not wish to fight them.
I received a briefing on the drilling by other prospectors for oil like Westrans and Basic. As well as the Export Processing Zone and the loan of $50 million by the First National City Bank of New York.
Then the briefing by Lepanto on the $91-$96 million copper smelter in San Fernando, La Union.
Another smelter by Atlas Mining in Cebu.
And the briefing for a nationwide integrated communications system using the Pacific Ocean Satellite or the Indian Ocean Satellite, by Philcomsat [Philippine Communications Satellite Corporation].