On board Ang Pangulo I feel tired and tense. So I have left the family behind on a fishing and water skiing week-end. The weather is perfect. Practically no wind. The coves especially Looc Cove are like polished glass. Never been as calm as now. And we caught an...
Marcos Diaries
August 2, 1974
I have scrapped the plan to release Operations Sea Hawk., the subversive activities and the new front in Calbiga, Swnar as these may prejudice the trip of Imelda to Peking. But Sec. [Juan] Ponce Enrile will brief both the Supreme Court and the Cabinet as well as the...
July 31, 1974
Upi, Cotobato was retaken this morning by the 2nd Inf. Bn. [Infantry Battalion] with special forces teams supported by the 15th PC [Philippine Constabulary] Bn. that came from Ulatanga. Only there WIA [wounded in action] on our side. We have to reveal the intensified...
July 29, 1974
Difficult to wrench one’s self away from the languorous beauty and peace of Ulot, Tolosa, Leyte. But after an early morning skiing in a calm sea left on the new BAC 1-11 for Manila. Arrived 12:40 to the problems: Mindanao—MGen. [Fidel] Ramos reported that his PC...
July 27, 1974
Kalipayan— Ulot, Tolosa, Leyte Upi, Cotobato has been occupied by an estimated 500 Muslim rebels, the municipal building, elementary school and part of the public market burned. Mayor Sinsuat wanted to surrender with his men but his Vice Mayor fought back and escaped...
July 26, 1974
Kalipayan Ulot, Tolosa Leyte I talked to Gen. [Fortunato] Abat at 6:00 AM by long distance telephone from Manila to Cotabato. No attack on Cotabato City in the night. At 10:00 AM when I talked to Col. ______ his Deputy from Ulot by long distance, he confirmed that the...
July 25, 1974
Cotabato has exploded in violence again. The 21st Bn. [Battalion] under Col. Tucay stumbled into an estimated 1,000 Muslim rebels (700 of them with firearms) in Bos. [Barrios] Biniruan and Balibud of Cotabato City (about 2 kilometers from the poblacion). We suffered...
May 17, 1974
Our basic strategy with respect to Malaysia is to impress her with our credible defense posture and capability. Thus the announcement on Phil. Air Force Day of the plan to increase our armed forces first to 100,000 then to 256,000. I did not announce that including...
May 2-14, 1974
Official Gazette for May 2, 1974: THE PRESIDENT said that the increase in officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which would total to about 256,000 by the middle of next year, is hewed primarily at the development efforts of the country and only...
May 1, 1974
20th Wedding Anniversary The proposals on military matters submitted by DND [Department of National Defense] to Amb. [William] Sullivan is attached. While Amb. Sullivan was in Washington, his men, Parnell and Terry Arnold, submitted counter-proposals. I have adopted...