Worked on the appointment of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and fill up six vacancies. I intend to appoint only three in the meantime.
So I met Chief Justice [Querube] Makalintal, Justices Fred Ruiz Castro, Antonio Barredo, Felix Makasiar, Felix Antonio and Salvador Esguerra, the Chief Justice alone first.
Pleasant amenities—but later we agreed on our meeting often as I sought their counsel.
For a start I asked them to think of the plan I had of organizing a legislative council of about 50 men (as a larger number would be unwieldy) to advise me on legislative matters.
Tony Barredo recommended my presenting the list of my choices to the people for ratification through the barangays.
I also asked them to look into deficiencies of our laws which we can now fill up.
Studied the oil situation inasmuch as the Arab countries are cutting down their production by 10% and 5%.
Official Gazette for October 19, 1973: THE PRESIDENT proclaimed October 21 as Tenants’ Emancipation Day to mark the historic date when tenants were freed from the bondage of landlords by the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 27. The decree, promulgated by the President in his own handwriting on October 21 1972 extended the coverage of the land reform program to an lands devoted primarily to rice and corn and tilled by tenants. After signing the proclamation, the President directed the Department Agrarian Reform to attend to the appropriate observance every year of tenants Emancipation Day in cooperation with tenants or their organizations.
DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs announced that an agreement between the Philippines and Switzerland on the reciprocal abolition of visa requirements for diplomatic officials, special and service passports, was already signed. Acting Foreign Secretary Manuel Collantes signed for the Philippines while Swiss Ambassador Ferdinand M. Dufour signed for Switzerland. This agreement exempts Philippine and Swiss holders of diplomatic, official, special and service passports from the usual visa requirements. Bearers of regular passports, however, are not included in the waiver.
THE PHILIPPINES’ fish production reached an all-time high of 1.1 million metric tons in 1972, registering an increase of 7.8 per cent from the production of 10 years ago, according to the Bureau of Fisheries. Fisheries Director Felix Gonzales said that the total fish production in 1962 was only 483,948 metric tons as compared to last year’s 1,122,486 metric tons. At present, the Philippines’ fisheries resources cover an area of 643,343 square miles with 126,000 hectares of freshwater and 367,000 mangrove swamp areas. In view of this, Director Gonzales said the fishing industry is expected to become a major dollar earner for the Philippines.
SECRETARY of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata announced that some 32,172 defective instruments of weights and measures were either confiscated or sealed in the nationwide campaign launched by the Department of Finance against the use of defective weighing instruments in public markets and other places. Secretary Virata made the announcement after going over reports from 27 provincial treasurers and 14 city treasurers. Section 289 of the National Internal Revenue Code penalizes any person who uses such defective instruments of weights and measures by a fine of not less than P200 nor more than P4,000 or by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than two years or both.