9:00 AM—Inaugurated the cold-cloud seeding rain production and typhoon moderation project. Philsugin [Philippine Sugar Institute] donated three high-flying Cessnas (they can fly higher than 32,000 feet) for the project.
11:00 AM—Com. Aquino on the Manila Bay Road with a causeway of about 500 meters wide. Also ordered the Manila North Diversion Road Extension and South Superhighway without cost to the government and cost to be recovered by tolls.
11:15 AM—Coordinated the BTTI [Board of Travel and Tourist Industry] and PTTA [Philippine Tourist and Travel Association] boards. Placed funds (P6.5 million) at the disposal of the BTTI only. Quarrels are stymying our tourist promotion plans.
2:15 AM—Met the Mangyan delegation from Mindoro Oriental with Gov. Umali and Cong. [Jose] Leido [Jr.]. They want reservation for their tribes which I ordered to be segregated by the Bureau of Forestry and the Bureau of Lands. They came in G-string and colorful tribal dress into the reception hall of the palace. Beneath the huge chandeliers they looked incongruous and unbelievable.
Official Gazette for April 21, 1970: President Marcos left Malacañang after a few hours of desk work, to officiate at the turnover of three planes which will be used in the crash program aimed at developing a local capability for inducing artificial rain and moderating the weather. The ceremony, held at the Nichols Air Base, included a brief speech from the President, outlining the program and acknowledging the primary roles to be played by the Philippine Sugar Institute and the Philippine Air Force. The President also cited the assistance provided by the U.S. government, particularly technical men, and USAF pilots in an earlier rainmaking project.
After the ceremonies the President returned to Malacañang where he received callers, notably a delegation representing the principal Mangyan tribes in Mindoro Oriental, which made representations for the proclamation of certain public lands in that province as reservations for the Mangyans. The President forthwith directed the bureaus concerned to make a study of the lands pinpointed, making sure that they were all in the public domain and defining clearly the borders.
The President also reactivated the Special Presidential Mission on Dollar Reparation, to determine the effect of Central Bank Circular No. 289 on the dollar remittance program. The reactivation of the dollar remittance mission was made to determine the effects of the increased inflow of dollars to the country, which was estimated at $70 million in the latter part of last November from dollar repatriation by Filipino workers abroad. As reactivated, the mission will be again headed by Labor Undersecretary Raoul M. Inocentes. He headed the previous special mission.
Other callers included Secretary of Commerce and Industry Ernesto Maceda, BTTI Commissioner Gregorio Araneta II, Rep. Roque Ablan, Jr., Salvador Peña, and A. Fonacier. The group discussed with the President the problems and plans of the tourist industry and the government program seeking to develop fully the country’s potentials for tourism.
The rest of the day President devoted to his homework. He huddled with state papers in his study through the afternoon, and well into evening.
Imelda is all pain from her exercising. Jazz from 4 to 5. Then exercise up to seven. Sauna bath of 15 minutes. Half an hour massage. All the Blue Ladies are worried about their figures. They are all putting on weight.
The export tax bill is now in the period of amendments in the senate. But there are many provisions like total sterilization of the proceeds, applicability immediate on the four major exports and the rest only after thirty days. These must be removed in the conference committee.
We have located the air strip of Arthur Beech who is actually the operations officer of the San Jose Timber Corp. of Louis Sheff and his wife at the source of the Catibog River Northern Samar. The training ground set up by [Sergio] Osmeña [Jr.] is close to there. And three men with de Leon, our asset perished in one of the falls of the river, so he is under suspicion. We will now look into the operations of Louis Sheff who has sold his house to Vic Fernandez the partner of [Ernesto] Maceda in their reparations influence peddling. They made money on the items procured by PACD [Presidential Assistant on Community Development] of which Maceda was the head. They have collected already $400,000.00.
But Louis Sheff has plenty of money and no apparent source. He is probably engaged in smuggling.