Met with USec. [Catalino] Macaraig [Jr.], Sol. Gen. [Felix] Antonio, Sec. [Juan] Ponce Enrile, City Fiscal Gamboa, Rizal Provincial Fiscal Castillo and Asst. Executive Secretary [Ponciano] Mathay on the libel case to be filed against Manila Chronicle, Weekly Nation, Taliba, Graphic, and Free Press.
The first problem was can I waive the right of immunity from service of warrant when it is a right dictated by public interest.
The next problem is can it be filed without my appearing in court or swearing to an affidavit or appearing as witness.
Then should it be filed with the fiscals office or directly with the court since this is one of the crimes that can be so directly filed with the court without passing through the fiscals office.
Judge Pio Marcos came to tell me of the strange case pending before him of a golden Buddha, allegedly a part of the Yamashita treasure.
Reminds me of some of the treasure we dug after the surrender of Yamashita.
Atty. Perfecto de los Reyes was brought by Angie [Angel] Limjoco [Jr.] and Ronnie [Geronimo] Velasco. He claims to be the lawyer of the wife of Datu Mustapha, the Chief Minister of Sabah. Atty. de los Reyes claimed that he is close to Mustapha with that Mustapha wishes to settle the Sabah Claim peacefully by negotiations. But he spoke of an abandonment of the claim and the payment to the heirs for their proprietary right—a solution to which I said the government cannot agree.
However, I asked that he work for a duly authorized representative of Mustapha to meet with a representative of our government and negotiate such settlement.
Met the Nacionalista senators, congressmen, governors and City Mayors at 12:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
We agreed:
- We would not follow our course of action in last year’s convention elections when the party had no official party candidates; but that we would put up official party candidates this year.
No Official Gazette entry for this day.
2. That instead of my staying out of the campaign as I proposed I should actively support the official candidates.
3. That the administration should do everything legal and moral to strengthen the local leaders (governors, mayors and congressmen) as well as the party organization.
4. That there be more active liaison between the senators and the congressmen. (This was brought about by the charges of the congressmen led by [Gaudencio] Beduya and [Fermin] Caram [Jr.]).
5. Upon the motion of Cong. Fernando Pajarillo later joined by Cong. Fernando Veloso, it was unanimously agreed that since the president of the party, Senate Pres. Gil Puyat has not exercised the powers of president and the Acting President, Sen. Pres. Pro Tempore Jose Roy has submitted his resignation, the titular head should exercise all the powers of president of the party.
A meeting of the executive committee should be called as soon as possible so as to take steps to strengthen the party and to resolve any conflicts.
I have asked the submission of a list of priorities of projects at the levels of P40,000 for each district to include Highway and Port Works special fund, calamity fund, Rural Improvement Fund (P1,000 per barrio on the 4th quarter of this year and another P1,000 per barrio next July), Irrigation Fund and General Fund.
The total expenditures will be P100 million per quarter beginning the last quarter of this fiscal year (April to June 1971) and to the 1st and 2nd quarters of 1971-1972.
I have just released P40,000 for the National Museum for the anthropological excavations that have revealed ancient man and the Pleistocene Fauna at Tabuk, KalingaApayao.
The fund is existing as Dr. Fox reports:
“It is probable that the earliest artifactual and fossil materials in Cagayan fall within the Middle Pleistocene Epoch and date from 250,000 to 400,000 years ago, and that the cultural materials record the presence of a Pithecaithropus or Homo errectus population in the Philippines at the time.”
As he himself points out the Tabon cave excavations in Palawan, this indicates a Palecolithic occupancy of food gatherers and hunters 45,000 to 50,000 years ago.
This is a major find and should be properly funded. Imelda and I are decided that we should support the diggings to the hill.
In 2018 stone artifacts and the remains of a butchered rhinoceros philippinensis excavated in 2014 were verified and suggest the earliest presence of man in the Philippines 700,000 years ago in mid Pleistocene period.
We intend to have the Marcos Foundation finance the diggings.
We are asking the two Filipino archeologists Dr. Jose [actually Felipe] Jocano and Jesus Peralta come over tomorrow to brief us on the diggings. The first is to the head of the Archeological Department of the University of the Philippines. The second is the Archeologist of the National Museum.