Dear Imee,
My sweet adorable scramble-brained eldest daughter who claims the temperament of a prima donna and the objectivity of an Oxford Don, you have just written one of the most touching letters in the history of the generation gap. We read it while we were having dinner and I am afraid the soup received some lachrymal dilution. But this dire confession must never be revealed to our critical public until twenty years after my demise.
We dig you, Bongbong and Irene. But then hindsight is always much wiser than foresight so here we are setting down in paper what we should have said in the first place.
But there is no need for worry. The Marcoses and the Romualdezes are an indestructible lot. No amount of abrasive confrontations, nor morose soliloquys or agitated non-intellectual discourse will erase them from this world. These are but symptoms of their vigorous nature. So we will survive. And so will you. We will bounce back to normalcy. Incidentally this is supposed to be a part of maturity. So you have shown us up as a little infantile. But I do not know of a more enchanting way of being unmasked nor by a more charming person! (Cheers)
So my darling, talented and precocious daughter, you and Bongbong and Irene are exactly what we wanted our children to be—give and take a little on the personality dimensions.
And we will all keep our eyes open for the booby traps that have been planted along the way. Without losing that spontaneity that gives grace to living.
Your mother and I have engaged in self-assessment (what does the Marxist call it—self-criticism) and introspection. So you see your genes are showing off—rather splendidly I would say.
But do not be too overly cruel with yourselves. “The fault dear Brutus, lies not in their stars x x x” In this case the fault may lie in the old fogies for not immediately appreciating the situation. What did I say in “Today’s Revolution x x” Flexibility—ah therein lies the secret of not only survival but achievement. You must forgive the old their right and set ways. And we must understand the ways of the young. I must read myself again. I thought was rather wise. But then that is the book not in the action.
So I send you the laudatory articles about you in the Leader and the Sunday Times.
Let me say that we spiritually agree with the praises in the two magazines.
“Makibaka. Huag matatakot. Ibagsak ang nakasimangot!”
We love you always,
Your dad—
F. E. Marcos [Signed]
9:00PM September 22, 1971[1]
While waiting for Wednesday
dinner with Imelda who
is at the Music room with
Sen. Teves and his bilas
Ex. Sec. Ututalum.
Worked out a solution to the problem of Lanao del Norte where apparently the old Ilongo company the 543 PC Coy [Philippine Constabulary Company] which was transferred from Cotobato because of its cold blooded killing of Moslems is again engaged in burning Moslem villages and massacring their inhabitants. As of the other day Ilagas are being blamed because the Moslems killed have their ears cut and their eyes gouged out.
Passions are apparently running high us shown by the affidavits that are submitted as well as the report from one of the friends Johnny Echiverri whom I have just appointed to Bulacan CFI [Court of First Instance].
Cong. [Mohammad] Ali Dimaporo confronted Gen. [Eduardo] Garcia, Chief of PC this morning in the conference I called with Gen. [Manuel] Yan, Gen. [Rafael] Ileto, Gen. [Fidel] Ramos, Gen. [Fabian] Ver and the Sol. Gen. with the accusation that the PC and Task Force Pagari report encounters or fire fights with Moslems where the latter are killed when actually they are massacres of sleeping Moslems civilians.
Gen. Garcia apparently is prejudiced against Cong. Dimaporo as he said when were alone at the passageway that Ali Dimaporo is merely biding his time to turn against us.
Gen. Garcia seems to have lost his judgment because if there is any Moslem who is loyal it is Ali. But if we push him and his followers it is just possible that they may join up with a Moslem Independence Movement.
Lately Gen. Garcia seems to have lost his level-headedness I will have to change him after the elections.
In the meantime I have ordered the 543 PC Company to be pulled out of Lanao del Norte and the Special Forces Company of the 1st Bn. PA [Battalion Philippine Army] attached to our Task Force Pasig to replace it immediately, movement by air to begin tommorrow.
And Gen. Ileto will assign another company to replace the PA company now assigned to the northern towns of Lanao del Norte from Tubad to Salvador. Christian and Moslem officers are mixed.
I go there to assess the situation tomorrow by boat to arrive Saturday.
I attach report of 100 students taking over the Concon [Constitutional Convention] sessions and one going up the rostrum to read a manifesto denouncing the Concon for not approving a resolution against the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.
Pres. [Diosdado] Macapagal attended the sessions of the Concon and so averted a crisis that would have arisen out of the declaration of his seat vacant, but he has demanded the strengthening of his position as President of the Concon.
Sen. Mamintal Tamano came to me on behalf of Sen. [Benigno] Ninoy Aquino [Jr.] asking me to forgive Aquino and not to prosecute him. “Please ask our Brod Ferdinand, does he think I am a communist?” Ninoy is supposed to have told him. I answered that Ninoy is irresponsible and vicious and he has openly supported the communists by arming, funding and equipping them. I suggested he does not talk too much. “He is too much of a compulsive talker,” I said.
This is not the first time Ninoy Aquino has sent an intermediary. He has sent no less than four—Congressman Jose de Venecia, [Felipe] Baby Ysmael, Mamintal Tamano and even Hans Menzi. There are several others who have slyly suggested pardon for this man.
But when I think of the clear and present danger that the communists will take over by default, I am resolved we must never weaken or be wished by the crafty and cunning enemy.
Tonight I was just reading the Readers Digests capsule article on the take over of the communists through [Salvador] Allende and it is truly alarming. The communists were banned from 1948 to 1958 nor were they the biggest party during the elections. They had a coalition with the socialists but the main party of Christian Democrats were split and complacent.
Lethargy, indifference, complacency, confusion, lack of will—all these went into the communist take over.
[1] No Official Gazette entry for this day.