I write this at 8:30 AM
Dec. 18, 1972 because I
went to bed at 12:00 PM
feeling heavy and sore
in the muscles. Just tired
and sleepy as I slept only
five hours the night before and
had practically no nap in the
afternoon.
Bongbong and Irene arrived by PAL [Philippine Airlines] in the evening at 7:32 PM. We met them at the VIP Room. Bongbong’s hair had been cut short by Amb. Ja[i]me Zobel’s secretary, Salazar, on the proddings of Bea, the ambassador’s wife. Irene was smart in a red, white and blue suit with a red tie and red bordered vest-armless sweater under a coat. They both look healthy and happy. Bongbong read during the long trip—a novel and a book on relativity! Irene slept and ate only one meal.
Imelda’s stitches, including the long subcuticular stitch at the right forearm that held the muscles together–and without anesthesia at 11:00 AM-12:30 AM [sic].
After the attack on Imelda, while she was suffering from her fresh wounds I started to think if the reforms of our society and the Filipino people are worth all these sacrifices.
And the answer is “Yes, if the reforms will find rest among our people.”
But in Manila I am beginning to see the signs of a slipping back to the old habits.
Official Gazette for December 17, 1972: PRESIDENT MARCOS led a nationwide “Come Out and Vote Yes” movement as he rallied the citizenry to articulate the ideals of the proposed Philippine Constitution with overwhelming affirmative votes.
At the same time, the President called on all ratification committees and affiliate organizations to explain to the people in full details the important highlights of the new Constitution. The President reiterated his appeal for the ratification of the new charter, saying the reforms achieved under the new society will rise or fall on the result of the plebiscite. He said the strong basis for national development is ingrained in the new Constitution and that alone, he explained, gives substance to all that are being done today.
SPEAKER CORNELIO T. Villareal expressed confidence that the new Constitution would have an easy sailing at the Jan. 15 plebiscite. He made the observation as he ended week-long series of conferences which he had conducted with the coordinating committees of all 11 regions in the country. The committees are composed of congressmen, Constitutional Convention delegates and provincial governors.
SOME 766,500 seedlings of high-yielding varieties of tobacco are being made available by the Bureau of Plant Industry to all farmers and interested parties. The seedlings are in the bureau’s, nurseries in Pangasinan, Abra, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, sites of the government’s intensified tobacco production program. The BPI has been distributing seeds and planting materials to the public in line with the “Green Revolution” movement of the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos. Some 231,985 coco seedlings are at present available at the BPI experiment stations and nurseries in Laguna, Quezon, Albay, Camarines, Sorsogon, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Samar, Zamboanga, Surigao, Davao and South Cotabato.
There is cleanliness in the city, much less crime, a new attitude by civil servants, a general concern for the general welfare.
But frivolity is still apparent among the upper classes. Still a habit for conspicuous consumption, selfishness and arrogance. One feels this arrogance also among the intelligentsia towards the ignorant and the less fortunate.
The rich are still thinking in terms of quick unreasonable profits, how to escape the law, avoid taxes.
Some criminals are back to their trade and the radicals are regrouping.
The politicians are beginning to be as demanding (Cong. Macias kept insisting on the congressmen receiving their salaries immediately after the ratification of the new constitution) as before. This is because they know we need them for the ratification of the new constitution.
And the Liberal Party leadership of [Gerardo] Roxas, [Jovito] Salonga, [Ramon] Felipe [Jr.], Eva Estrada Kalaw, John Osmeña, [Raul] Daza, Barrera, [Francisco] Soc Rodrigo are banding together for obstructionism all over again.
The Comelec [Commission on Elections] has assumed an attitude it is more powerful than the military—and perhaps the president.
The quiet, slow slide into the old society is now perceptible.
And a deliberate attempt to erode the authority of martial law.
Even Mao Tse Tong spoke of the return of reaction in a letter to his wife several years after the 1949 victory of his revolution. Thus, the need of the Cultural Revolution.
Probably we will need more stern measures after the ratification of the constitution. It seems as if liberality is mistaken for weakness in a centralist or authoritarian government no matter how constitutional.
We need a longer period of gestation of the New Society. Otherwise it will be aborted.
And more care and alertness by the leadership for the symptoms of retrogression.