Ambassador [Narciso] Reyes sent word by cable that the Russian delegation head to the Ecafe [Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East] would want to talk on a special subject, further recommending immediate diplomatic relations with the USSR [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics] and later negotiate the aid Russia can give.
I have asked Sec. [Carlos] Romulo to ask pointblank what aid we could get from Russia. The Russian ambassador to Indonesia could not answer as he had to refer the matter to Moscow on May 1st.
So we spoke of generalities when the ambassadors of Russia to Australia, the Polish ambassador and Hungarian ambassador to Singapore as well as the Czec[h] paid me a courtesy call after the call of all the heads of delegations to the Ecafe.
Official Gazette for April 21, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS received the heads of delegations to the ECAFE meet in Manila, some individually, others in groups.
First to call to pay his respects was former US Treasury Secretary David Kennedy, now ambassador-at-large, and head of the US delegation.
He was accompanied by William Knight, deputy head of mission of the US embassy here.
Also making an individual call on the President was Australian Minister for Primary Industry 1. Sinclair, who presented to the President the donation of Australia through the SEATO Aid Program of some US$308,000 worth of telecommunications equipment to improve the country’s typhoon warning system; and Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik.
Hungarian Ambassador Peter Koos, who is his country’s envoy to NewDelhi; Ambassador Jersy Bociong, Poland’s envoy to Djakarta; Dr. Jaromir Johanes, Czechoslovakia’s ambassador to Indonesia; and M. M. Volkov, the USSR ambassador to Indonesia, made the courtesy call on the President as a group.
They were accompanied to the Palace by Philippine delegate, Secretary of Commerce and Industry Ernesto Maceda, and ECAFE Executive Secretary U Nyun.
Later in the morning, the President inducted the officers of the Advanced Management Association of the Far East. Inducted were Rene Cristobal, president; Col. Manuel Salientes (ret.), first vice president; Pedro Nisperos, second vice president; Domingo Y. Itchon, treasurer; Arsenio Vistro, secretary; and Angel Limjuco. Jr., Horacio Gutierrez, Romeo Intengan, Gabino Mendoza, Edgardo de Leon. Gil Sulil, Jr., Patrocinio Bautista, Eusebio Viilatuya, and Patemo Kintanar, directors.
In his brief remarks following the induction, the President said the organization could help particularly in looking into new approaches for solving old problems, which emerged as “new conflicts” as a result of the implementation of innovative programs of government.
Later, the President sought the improvement of the real property assessment committee in the Department of Finance.
In creating the committee, the President stressed the importance of the realty tax as a source of revenue for local governments.
The President also emphasized that an improved real properly assessment would result in the fair distribution of the realty tax burden among real property owners throughout the country.
In the afternoon, the President had leeway for attending to his desk work and other state matters. Much later, he and the First Lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, again played hosts to the visiting King and Queen of Nepal, as the royal visitors went on a brief sight-seeing tour of the city environs.
I also talked to Minister Adam Malik of Indonesia on the Moslem situation here in Mindanao. He told me that the Moslems in Indonesia were trying to pit [Abdul Haris] Nasution against Suharto but he stopped it.
Adam Malik had heaped generous praise on me and my speech yesterday at the opening of the Ecafe. So did the head of the Indian delegation, Pakistan, the USSR and the U.S. I thanked them all.
We have just come from a cruise on Manila Bay for the King and Queen of Nepal.
He recounted how at about the end of last January while hunting, he had wounded the queen (who is his second wife, she being the sister of his first wife who died) on the arm and the abdomen with six perforations of the intestine.
The bullet (a solid 300) had ricocheted and had apparently also turned back on its trajectory inside the queen’s body.
A most strange accident!
She was on top of a hunting elephant and she to be driven to his place got down of the elephant and collapsed. She had to be flown two hours by plane to a hospital.
He suffered heart attacks three years ago, when he had to live two months in the hunting camp where he had the attack, the same place where he hit the queen with a ricochet!
Worked on the outline of my book on my political philosophy—the democratic revolution.
It should have an impact not only in the Philippines but in the world.
Today the papers headlined and front-paged my speech recommending the scrapping of international reserves as this is a road block to the development of developing nations.
But as usual they missed the philosophy behind this and the strategy to shock the Ecafe into more decisive action.
Mahendra died of a heart attack on a hunting trip on January 31, 1972. In 1960 Mahendra suspended the Constitution, dissolved the elected parliament, dissolved the cabinet, and imposed direct rule. His successor Birendra and the rest of the royal family were massacred in 2001.