I believe I should proclaim the entire Philippines as a land reform area provided that the farmers will agree not to seek or demand loans from the government for their inputs as we do not have the funds. But I still think we must organize cooperatives. And the Magalang project will be the pilot project for this kind of cooperative.
We have been able to get the senators to agree to a caucus to have me convince them hat we must allow the collections from the export tax for our foreign and domestic indebtedness. We meet for breakfast at 8:30 AM Monday, April 27th.
I have appointed Francisco Rabat as chairman of PHILCOA [Philippine Coconut Authority] and hope that he will have the drive to organize cooperatives for coconut producers.
Had Leo[nides] Virata and [Antonio] Tony Ayala for lunch. Asked them to approve the [Hans] Menzi application for a pulp and paper plant as there was a letter guaranty of the produce to be bought by them.
Official Gazette for April 25, 1970: President Marcos, as is his wont on weekends, concentrated on his desk work. However, he received a few callers with urgent business at Malacañang, including Thomas Niblock, USAID director here, who presented the first shipment of surgical instruments, which the aid agency donated to the Philippine General Hospital, and Dr. Zahir Ahmed, UN land reform expert, who discussed with the President the land reform program and offered to make a study of the land reform effort here.
At around noon, the President met privately with Senate and House leaders, including Senate Majority Floorleader Arturo Tolentino, Senator Wenceslao Lagumbay, Speaker Protempore Jose Aldeguer, House Majority Floorleader Marcelino Veloso and Rep. James Chiongbian of South Cotabato.
In the evening, he addressed the Confederation of Quezon City Barrio Councils, at the induction of the officers of the group at the D & E restaurant in Quezon City.
The President stressed the need in the country’s urban communities for organized action, pointing out that the problem that must be solved is that of apathy and the loss of a sense of community.
The sense of community that small towns have, he said, may be restored among city folk “without sacrificing any of the attributes of progress and bigness, without doing away with any of the advantages of city life.” “The division of the city into districts or barrios permits the city resident to relate with his neighbor,” he said, and allows him to work with others “in pursuit of specific objectives for the betterment of his community.” Finally, he asserted, it allows him “to participate in the conduct of local governments, because he has recourse to organized action with his immediate neighbors.”
Earlier, the President designated Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata and NEC Chairman Placido Mapa, Jr. as members of the Joint Legislative-Executive Tax Commission. The two Cabinet members will represent the executive department in the commission. The Chief Executive also named four others to various government boards. They are:
1) Arturo D. Tolentino, Jr., as chairman of the Board of Examiners for Medical Technology; 2) Felix E. Asprer, as member of the Board of Examiners for Medical Technology. 3) Adrian Cristobal, as member of the board of administrators of the Philippine Coconut Administration. 4) Florencio Moreno, Sr., as member of the Board of Technical Surveys and Maps. He will represent the civil engineering profession in the board.
Met with J.V. Cruz for lunch and he claims he is worried about the control of the military over government. So I explained to him that we must keep a dialogue with the military as they could be a threat if I did not dominate them morally.
I am appointing him Ambassador to Bonn, Germany as this seems to be his wish and I promised this to him during the campaign of 1969.