Came back from Tuguegarao at 10:00 AM on the new King Air of Central Bank which can go 300 miles an hour at 18,000 ft. taking Tuguegarao-Manila in 55 minutes.
Met Tomatie [Tumatic] Aratuc and his wife Nelly Tagadi Aratuc and we agreed that he would bring back his father. I sent food and medicines as well as a SSB [single-sideband] for radio communication to be set up inside the town of Buldon. He was a former Moslem scholar in Notre Dame. And I believe he will help settle the problem.
Pres. [Richard] Nixon allowed the dollar to float today. By and large this should favor us
Official Gazette for August 16, 1971: President Marcos had two major conferences, one in the afternoon with Tumatic Aratuc, son of Buldon Mayor Bangon Aratuc, and the other in the evening with members of his Fiscal Policy Committee.
It was quite a busy day for the President, following his return to Manila in the morning from the North where he presented the NP senatorial candidates in huge rallies in Laoag City and Tuguegarao, Cagayan.
Before meeting with Aratuc’s son, who was sent by the Buldon mayor to relay his message to him, the President worked on official papers in his private study.
Tumatic Aratuc, who was accompanied by his wife Nelly, Senators Mamintal Tamano and Leonardo Perez, Rep. Constantino Navarro and Judge Lau Tan of Buldon, transmitted to the President a complaint from Mayor Aratuc that nine houses belonging to Muslims were burned in a barrio of Buldon by “men in uniform.”
He also informed the President that no food or medicine have arrived in Buldon despite the President’s orders for immediate delivery of same.
In the course of his meeting with Tumatic, the President communicated directly by telephone with Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, Fourth PC Zone commander. He directed Gen. Tutaan to pull out the 543rd PC company and all other Ilongo elements from the Buldon area, the presence of which was deemed the main irritant to the Muslims. The President also ordered Gen. Tutaan to conduct a full-dress investigation of the burning of the nine Muslim houses, and to-maintain active patrolling in the area, with special attention to armed men who may attempt to destroy or sabotage the peaceful settlement of the factional differences in the province.
The President likewise ordered Gen. Tutaan to expedite the delivery of food and medicine and the deployment of civilian doctors aid social workers to Buldon.
In another directive, the President ordered Brig. Gen. Fabian Ver, chief of the Presidential Security Unit, to furnish Mayor Aratuc with a single sideband radio set and two operators to enable the mayor to communicate with Malacañang any time. At the end of the conference, the President requested Tumatic and his wife to return to Buldon immediately so that they could help facilitate the delivery to and distribution of food and medicine among the evacuees, and to convey his desire to confer with Mayor Aratuc in Malacañang on the measures which should be taken to maintain peace and order in the area.
The President met with the members of the Fiscal Policy Committee in the evening to assess the effects of U.S. President Nixon’s decision to suspend the gold conversion of the dollar. The Council agreed that the “floating” of the dollar would have no adverse effect on the Philippine economy. On the other hand, it was agreed that since the government had more liabilities than deposits in dollars in the U.S., the new policy might favor the Philippine Government. The same situation, it was agreed, would obtain for the private sector.
Present at the meeting were Central Bank Governor Gregorio Liqaros, Finance Secretary Cesar Virata, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melehor, NEC Chairman Gerardo Sicat, DBP Chairman Leonides Virata, SSS Administrator Gilberto Teodoro, Board of Investments Chairman Vicente Paterno, GSIS General Manager Roman Cruz, Jr., Veterans Bank President Esteban Cabanos, and Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad.
as we have many dollar liabilities in the public and private sector. Prices may go up a little in the U.S. but this may not affect us too much.
Dinner by the [Bahay] Pangarap Golfers— [Roberto] Bobby Benedicto, [Angel] Angie Limjoco [Jr.], Ricky Cu-Unjieng, Pepe Oledan and Belek Madrigal and their wives.
The sukiyaki was good!
I am more and more convinced that there are parties which are engaged in stimulating a Holy War in the Moslem areas. The burning of mosques and the wanton and vicious slaying of Moslems as well as cutting off their ears are deliberate steps to inflame the Moslems against the government and the Christians.
These parties may be the young lawyers close to Ex-Gov. Udtug Matalam, or even Cong. Salapida Pendatun himself who finds it politically profitable to have the Moslem areas in a state of turmoil. Or Ex-Senator Domocao Alonto or Ex-Cong. Raschid Lucman.
I understand from Cong. [Mohammad] Ali Dimaporo that there were messages to Lanao, Zamboanga, Sulu and other Moslem areas to the effect that the revolution against the government was on. So he had to go around to give the lie to these strange speculations.
Ninoy [Benigno] Aquino [Jr.] is, as usual, heard to have bragged that if four battalions of the Armed Forces should be moved from Luzon to Mindanao to meet the threat of the Moslem Independence Movement, then the 10 HMB [Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan] or NPA [New People’s Army] Commanders and their 100 men who are now in Manila would mount an attack on the city.
This could be 90% false and all bark as is usual with Ninoy Aquino.
But that the subversives are hiding out in Manila and suburbs is true.
And we must make Mindanao, whatever be the military situation there be self-sufficient and capable of attending to its requirements without need for any reserves from the Visayas or Mindanao.