Received a letter of regrets from Mr. Henry Luce III, owner of Time carried by the Asian manager.
We met with our panel of lawyers. We decided that I would not meet the messenger of Luce.
I have refused to compromise the case. And the lawyers agree that there must be a judgment on the case. And if there is to be a confession of judgment, then the defendant must admit that the allegations in the article are not true.
For one thing I wanted a public forum where everyone can present all the evidence available.
And the good name of the Filipino people is involved.
My day has been spent mostly on political conflicts and requests.
Official Gazette for August 6, 1971: President Marcos directed the Rice and Corn Administration to devise a scheme whereby cheaper government rice could be distributed through the barrio captains all over the country, with special attention to places with short supply of the cereal. The President issued the directive to insure that RCA rice selling at from P2.10 to P2.20 per ganta each as many families as possible, especially those of the low-income groups in the rural areas. The sale of cheaper rice through the barrio captains was suggested by the League of Barrio Captains of Cabanatuan City, members of which called at Malacañang at noon to request the approval of House Bill No. 3294 passed during the special session of Congress. The bill officially recognizes the official standing of 59 Cabanatuan barrios.
Accompanied by Reg. Angel Concepcion, author of the bill, the delegation of barrio captains informed the President that the original charter of Cabanatuan enacted in 1955 had listed only 11 barrios and inadvertently failed to include 59 other barrios which were already existing before the capital town of Nueva Ecija was converted into a city.Oscar P. Justo, chairman of the League, said that the forgotten barrios have thus been deprived of their rightful share of most of the nationwide rural improvements undertaken by the administration.
The President forthwith signed the measure.
The Cabanatuan group was one of several delegations who called on the President to take up urgent local matters. These were delegations from Cotabato, Lipa City, La Union and Rizal.
Earlier in the morning, the President received a group of young American Civil Air Patrol cadets who arrived in Manila under the auspices of the International Air Cadet Exchange Program. Accompanied by Col. Henry Meider, vice president of the Aerospace Association of the Philippines, the U.S. cadets called at Malacañang to pay their respects.
The group was composed of Lt. Col. Keith Laddie Lysinger, of Boise, Idaho; Cadet Lt. Col. Bruce Kenneth Adams of Des Moines, Iowa; Cadet Lt. Col. Mark Larry Lupfer of Sta. Monica, California; Cadet Lt. Col. Roberto Thomas Lohne of Westminister, Colorado; and Cadet Capt. Kevin M. Carlson of Freemont, Nebraska.
The President spent the rest of the day working on official papers, breaking off once at 4:30 p.m. to hold a general press conference.