March 24, 1972

Friday

The [Rodolfo] Ganzon ambushers have been identified by the PC [Philippine Constabulary] and NBI [National Bureau of Investigation].

Talked to Imelda at about 12:00 AM [sic]. She is at Excelsior Hotel in Rome. Bongbong still ill in bed. They take the regular PAL [Philippine Airlines]-KLM [Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – Royal Dutch Airlines] flight leaving Rome at 9:00 PM (Rome time) and arriving in Manila at 7:20 PM, Saturday, Manila time. She meets the Pope at about 12:30 AM [sic] Rome time or 7:30 PM Manila time. Then goes to a reception in the evening given by a Mike ______ whose father has stayed in Manila Hotel for twenty five years.

We have been working on Trade Promotion and the export trade. We must wipe out the imbalance of the trade with Australia of about $50 million.

I have directed the development of a low priced tiller that should revolutionize the rice industry—one in the P2,000-P3,000 range. Right now tillers imported from Japan cost about P10,000—too high for the ordinary farmer.

Marsteel has a prototype produced with the help of IRRI [International Rice Research Institute]. It will be tested by IRRI next month.

Worked out a formula to bring down prices by bringing the producers directly in contact with the consumers by a massive organization of cooperatives.

[Alfredo] Piding Montelibano [Sr.], President of the Chamber of Agriculture, committed the private sector to this.

And I insisted upon the lowering of the price of fertilizers which can be attained by the restructuring of the indebtedness of the SPCMA [Sugar Producers’ Cooperative Marketing Association, Inc.] which bought Esso fertilizer.

I ordered Gov. [Gregorio] Licaros and Sec. Cesar Virata to as FNCB to restructure the loan and lower fertilizer prices.

Esso Fertilizer which controls 82% of all production is controlled by the Sugar Producers Cooperative.

I also ordered the IBRD [International Bank for Reconstruction and Development] loans for $12 million for agriculture through the rural banks to be implemented by Central Bank furnishing the 30% Agri. Loan Fund. IBRD furnishes 50% the rural bank 10% and the farmer 10%.

10:00 PM March 25, 1972[1]

Saturday

Coordinated the public and private sectors on the organization of producers and consumers’ cooperatives. Private sector headed by Ex. Sec. Alfredo Montelibano, President of the Chamber of Agriculture.

Beginning April 6th, 251 trainers will be trained in Los Baños for APC [Agricultural Productivity Commission], ACA [Agricultural Credit Administration], PACD [Agricultural Credit Administration] and CAO [Cooperatives Administration Office] for two weeks. They will be sent out to the provinces and cities to train the field men of these agencies, the local executives down to the level of the barrio councilors as well as teachers.

Counterparts of the private sector will be equally trained.

100 storage facilities with the new technique of chilling instead of ice production, will be established throughout the country for perishable consumer items like fish, beef, pork, chicken and eggs, vegetables, fruits etc. The franchise holders of ice will be given a chance to buy the units but a public bidding can be held to choose the operators.

Also worked out the credit to be extended to agriculturists.

Before this, looked into all the programs for export and trade as well tourist promotion.

Metrocom [Metropolitan Command] has to be strengthened.

[Benigno] Benny Toda [Jr.] came to see me and offered to part with one half of all his holdings in PAL [Philippine Airlines]. I presumed this meant to the government with him contributing to manage the company. I refused it but asked him to present his plans for a renovated PAL which would be a pride to the country.

I had asked [Geronimo] Ronnie Velasco to come and confer with Benny Toda, hoping that I could get them to agree on some kind of a settlement. But Ronnie Velasco said he could not commit his group.

So I asked both of them to know that I did not want the office of the President to be dragged into their conflict and that my name should not be used by either of them.

Benny had asked that he be allowed to tell Caltex that he had my support and that I wanted the status quo. I asked him to tell Caltex that in the Bd of Directors meeting on Monday and Stockholders meeting on Wednesday that the Status Quo in the organization be maintained but that my name should not be used by either party.

1:00 AM March 26, 1972[2]

March 27 Sunday

Imelda and the children arrived at 10:20 PM via PAL [Philippine Airlines]-KLM [Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – Royal Dutch Airlines]. Imelda lost ten pounds of her 135 pds. Bongbong still has a cough and the two girls put on weight.

Received Mayor Osmeña (Serging) and the Cebu City councilors on the PC [Philippine Constabulary] control of Cebu Police, the case of Police Chief Gultiano and the mayors [sic] responsibility to clean up the city.

Then the widow of Lt. Apolivar who died in action in Cotabato, Sec. [Alejandro] Melchor [Jr.] on the PAL question (Diectors meeting tomorrow and stockholders meeting Wednesday).

Interview by TASS Vladimir.

[Si?] ______ Harrison of Washington Post, German TV______ Dr. ______.

Mansion

Baguio City[3]

10:05 PM March 27, 1972[4]

Monday

I have just come with Imelda and the children with some of the retreatants from Mirador to see that the retreat starts. I sleep here at the Mansion tonight and proceed to Mirador for the meditation at 8:15 AM the first activity.

Arrived at 11:05 AM by plane taking the Manila-Baguio flight in about 40 minutes. A little cloudy but the east was clear and bumpy. The plane had to go back for Imelda and the children.

Played 7 holes at Kañao (Mansion) so that we could save time, then changed to a barong at the 8th tee and black shoes in lieu of my golf shoes and went to the conference held to host a lunch for and deliver a speech for the City Mayor’s convention.

And changed to a suit for the PMA [Philippine Military Academy] graduation. I arrived at 3:40 PM and finished at about 5:00 PM. The clouds threatened to, but did not rain.

Still cold in Baguio even in March.

Nominated 8 generals—Deputy Chief of PC [Philippine Constabulary] – [Fader?], 2nd PC Zone Commander [E. C.] Navarro, 3rd PC Zone Commander [Luis] Amor, Task Force Pagkakaisa Commander [Antonio] Venades, Lanao del Norte Civic Action Group Commander Castro, G-2 Paz, Home Defense Deputy Chief of Staff for Home Defense [Guillermo] Picache.

Mirador, Baguio City[5]

8:30 PM March 28, 1972[6]

Tuesday

I came in at about 8:20 AM for the meditation which started at 8:15 AM, late because I had to settle several matters before I could go into retreat, one of which was the wish of the children to go back to Manila inasmuch as they had nothing to do since none of their crowd had as yet come up (they are expected tomorrow or Thursday). Imelda was upset by the restlessness of the children.

Somehow, this and other problems that have arisen in the last month, has made my retreat more urgent. I have to think out the plans that I have drawn up. This includes the report on increased subversion, the arson, the acts of terrorism in the Metropolitan area, the continued shipment of arms for the subversives, their recruitment and training and the renewed activities of the front organizations. And we have had to review the eventual used [sic] of the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and even the proclamation of martial law.

So I talk to God in my retreat asking for guidance knowing that he sees me as I am—a man with his strengths and weaknesses. I keep no secret from him as he has watched me in my nakedness.

More than the reading and the thinking it is this quiet and continuous conversation God that I attain.

I have just come from the chapel where I prayed fervently that he may be with me always.

Mirador, Baguio City[7]

March 27-29, 1972[8]

Monday-Wednesday

Decision to make: Subversion, the media

List down the countries with which we have an unfavorable trade balance.

Organize the exporters to make special efforts to export to them.

Start out with Australia.

Assign special salas or courts for cases of anti-graft, corruption, malversation, dishonesty of government officials.

MIA [Manila International Airport]

Kearns visit – April 4-6

Include the new International Airport

Post Office – Appt. [Felizardo] Tanabe

My Own Spiritual Exercise

I asked the Lord for a sign. And he has given it. In the meditation this morning, the following thoughts were brought out.

“My job is too heavy. But your will and not mine be done.”

The permissiveness of society must be balanced with authoritativeness. The two poles must be given weight and equal importance.

Then in the Exercises – Is it for the glory of God that there be authoritativeness? Yes for we return order where there is chaos.

Father [Roque] Ferrioles [sic] spoke of recognizing the Relative of the Absolute and the Absolute in the Relative. As well as need for competence.

Spiritual Exercises on the Specific problem of Martial Law

There are certain themes that one must be sensitive to. Thus relativity.

Food is good. But meat is not always good. Thus if one has had an appendectomy, meat is not good. This is the relative value of meat.

Nor is cyanide to be taken at all. This is the absolute value of certain things to be taken.

So I conclude that freedom is not always good. There may be periods in a country’s life when it is like meat. For the time being it must be curtailed or denied.

And the permissiveness of our society has spawned the many evils that will wreck our Republic. It must now be balanced with auth0ritativeness and that is martial law. However, I put as a condition tile occurrence of massive terrorism which would alarm the people as well as the authorities.

And the discussion on authoritativeness to balance permissiveness comes incidentally in answer to some inquiry as to the problem of parents over teenaged children. The father spoke of the problem of Ateneo where in the 1960’s the authoritativeness of the decade was balanced by Ateneo with permissiveness by the Ateneo administration. And now the KM’s [Kabataang Makabayan] who profess attention and “nagwawala”—nothing is evil or immoral. This has resulted in disorder and failure in the mission to train and give competence in chemistry, economics, engineering etc. which even the KM’s with their avowed desire for a new society would need.

So Father [Jose] Cruz, our former retreat master, has instituted authoritativeness which has made him unpopular but may have saved Ateneo.

But that this should even be talked about when not in the subject of the meditation. This is the sign that I have asked of God.

Yesterday he had talked casually of the two lives of thought of reformists inside the church: First the Development – Growth. Second, Shocking, explosive.

When asked which was correct, he had answered his fellow Jesuits that both were partially valid. With respect to the first one must avoid the possibility that the waiting for growth when one does nothing is not mere indolence. And with respect to the second, that the attempt to shock is not merely giving vent to one’s natural instinct of destruction.

In my spiritual exercises I have followed St. Ignatius of Loyola’s injunction that the colloquy be an integral part of meditation. For colloquy is indeed “mental prayer”—the most direct form of prayer: “it personalizes the relationship between man and his Creator.”

And I follow the Ignatian Exercise which divide into three parts: purgative, illuminative, unitive. So the first has to do with our awareness of responsibility in Creation, the nature of sin, its degrading and disintegrating effects, the nature of divine judgment and eternal punishment.

The second deals with the divine will in the life of Christ and aims at making the retreatant want to imitate Christ. It has to do with the events in the life of Jesus Christ beginning with the Incarnation and ending with the gospel on Palm Sunday.

The third stage studies the Passion of Christ, his sacrifice, His loyalty and obedience to the Father, his love of mankind to the bitter end. “We unite ourselves with the sacrifice, offering our good intentions, our better self so to speak and we contemplate the Redemption, realizing that it was wrought by the most terrible ordeal.

I have also followed Loyola’s “The Making of a Decision” (Secs. 169-189), as well as his “Rules for Distinguishing Between Different Spiritual Influences.”

The Mansion

Baguio City[9]

12:00 PM March 30, 1972[10]

Thursday

I signed the anti-drug and the Export Insurance bills this afternoon at 4:00 PM in the presence of Speaker [Cornelio] Villareal and the House authors, Cong. [Teodulo] Natividad and [Lorenzo] Sarmiento respectively.

Then met hundreds from Benguet and even llocos Sur: barrio captains, mayors, civic groups etc.

Press conference. Interview by Nang Sevilla who also wanted help in reparation boats because of the foreclosure by PNB [Philippine National Bank] on their properties.

Conference with the political leaders.

Spent 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM playing golf at Camp John Hay. Birdied Nos. 4 and 18.

Lunch after shower then a nap—at Joe’s house.