Worked till 2:00 PM (Met the Ilocos Sur leaders all over again. Changed the provincial commander)
Taped my Christmas message before the Belen after conferences with Bobby Benedicto, etc.
Then received carolers up to 2:00 AM.
2:00 AM December 24, 1971[1]
December 25, 1 971 Friday
The Eve of Christmas
Cabinet meeting up to 3:30 PM this afternoon. This will be the last meeting for the year. We received the progress of the year.
The Secretary of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Economic Planners (Gerry [Gerardo] Sicat of NEC [National Economic Council] and Dr. A. [Apolinario] Orosa of PES [Presidential Economic Staff]) all talk happily of the increase in GNP [gross national product] growth.
But I have a feeling all is not well with the economy. The steel people say they are not moving and if things continue they may close up. The cement people are at the end of the rope. Copper prices are down from 60 cents to 46 cents per pound and the smelters are not accepting the additional production of our mines due to expansion. Log and wood prices are down and the demand has decreased.
And the price of prime commodities like rice is still high.
Peace and order is at its worst. There is cynicism and frustration.
So I have demanded a reassessment of our fiscal and financial policies.
We will increase our infrastructure expenditure to P1.2 billion up to P1.5 billion.
We intend to reverse the 1971 trend of less expenditure for economic development and more for national defense and social development.
Then more emphasis on agricultural and industrial production.
I attach the votes in the cabinet meeting.
Admiral Samuel Morrison, the noted naval historian who wrote the naval history of the United States.
He laughingly commented that Ferdinand Magellan violated all the rules of amphibious landing in Mactan where he lost his life leading his men on the attack and the last man to retire on the withdrawal when they met heavy opposition.
Christmas dinner for the entire clan—the Marcoses and the Romualdezes.
11:00 PM December 25, 1971[2]
Saturday
Christmas Day
The Christmas Dinner last night was well attended by both the Romualdez and the Marcos clans—more than a hundred from the old married ones to the babes in arms. The usual gifts in cash and articles. For the children each was a hundred pesos in coins in gay red and blue striped cloth bags. For the grown ups there was bundles of currency in amounts from P10,000 that was for mother and P1,000 for the grand-children.
Good natured kidding. Like [Eliza]Beth [Marcos-Keon] who kept changing her gifts for the better ones received by the younger ones like Fortuna. I kept threatening laughingly that if she kept doing it I would give her wrist watch away.
And the Romualdezes losing weight specially Let (Dra. Lourdes Romualdez) and Francepin. Most of the Marcoses are slimmer.
Lasted up to 1:30 AM.
Slept at about 2:30 AM. Woke up at 9:00 AM. Went back to sleep until 12:30 [P]M.
The supply armory of the Phil. Army in Fort Bonifacio was raided the night of the 23rd. Apparently an inside job. The three padlocks were opened with the right keys. No violence used. 49 Armalites were packed in several duffle bags and thrown out among the tall cogon when the guard noticed the rope across the fence. The duffle bags were recovered.
So far only one Armalite is missing. But I have ordered a physical count of the armaments.
We are expecting some trouble at this time of the year as tomorrow is Mao Tse Tung’s birthday and the anniversary of the Reestablished Communists Party of the Philippines which was set up Dec. 26, 1968.
And we go to Baguio tomorrow morning by plane.
[Antonio] Tony Raquiza came to see me again yesterday to ask a decision on the request of the Traditionalist communists for support from me and the government in the form of arms (the original number requested was 500), information and cooperation of the Armed Forces. The Traditionalist ask an answer be made not later than Jan. l0th.
But the objective was for the Traditionalists to go after the leaders of the Maoists and eliminate them. They referred to Laguna, then Manila and Isabela.
However, I believe the Traditionalists do not have the capacity to accomplish the mission. So we are not giving them any guns. But I have asked them to show their capability by pointing out limited targets that they can hit but to tell me beforehand so that we can measure their accomplishments.
I believe that we can handle both the Maoists and the Traditionalists.
10:15 PM December 26, 1971[3]
Baguio Sunday
We flew to Baguio at 9:20 AM having been delayed by the various unfinished problems in the office:
The sudden death of Sec. Amadeo Cruz of Health. I had to indicate that Under Sec. [Clemente] Gatmaitan had to take over temporarily. I would like to appoint a prestigious person like Dr. Jesus Tamesis as Secretary of Health.
I had to write the condolence letter in long hand and appoint Dr. Pacifico Marcos my brother, as my proxy in the funeral on the 29th.
The rice procurement and purchase both locally and abroad.
The plans for Ilocos Sur and Isabela.
Final reports on the Muslim.
Many small details that had to be finished before I could leave the office.
But just the same I received a ribbing from my children for the tardiness as I had told them we would leave at 7:00 AM.
We used the Fokker for the first time since its return to the Philippines from Amsterdam where it went through a complete 1-run which cost more than a million pesos but brought it back to Zero defects and Zero time.
It feels good and has been refurnished inside in red. The engines purr in perfect strength and power.
We were over Baguio in 30 minutes but we circled around till Imelda’s plane had landed. We landed at 10:15 AM.
We were teeing off at Camp John Hay with Maj. and Mrs. Jim Ball, [Manuel] Neling Nieto [Jr.] and Joey Stevens at 12:00. Finished at 4:15 PM with a 73. I parred the first two holes and birdied the 3rd Cardiac Hole. But I could not hit with my woods and long irons. I started to hit well on the 18th when I drove well. But the irons of the new set (a McGregor D-o swingweight) is lighter and I was short of the green with a pitching wedge. I used my old blaster to blast out of the trap to within one foot of the cup for a game.
Baguio is quiet. Not too many people. Even the activists seem to have left. Mayor [Luis] Lardizabal tells me that they have gone to some conference in the Cordilleras. This is the birthday of Mao Tse Tung. And they must be celebrating it. Commander Julius captured in Ifugao on November 1st had revealed that there would be a meeting in Isabela of NPA [New People’s Army] representatives of all Northern Luzon provinces on this day.
I go to Ilocos Sur tomorrow to find out what is really happening there.
On the 30th I go to Ilocos Norte.
Tonight I just read again the article “The Violent Way” by Robert Andrey, author of the The Territorial Imperative. He agrees that our overcrowded society may be headed for chaos on dictatorship.
It refers to the experiments with animals where there is order in groups with a dominant male—disorder where there is no one dominant. “Throughout nature there is a force for order.”
“Any sense of injustice, however real, must be aggrandized to a point where risk becomes tolerable. Yet I find myself doubtful that such social scenes should be characterized as neurotic, since we neglect a prime fact: that the youth with a paving stone in his hands is enjoying himself.”
“We enjoy the violent, just as callous rats sought the middle pens. We hurry to an accident not to help; we run to a fire not to put it out; we crowd about a schoolyard fight not to stop it. For all the Negro’s profound and inarguable grievances, there has not been a racial outbreak in America since the days of Watts in which a degree of carnival atmosphere has not prevailed. I myself have no great taste for Molotov cocktails; it is because I am timid, not because I am good. Gerard Suttles, in his work with juvenile groups in the Chicago slums, found that the reliability of gang members to join in an action could be analized [sic]; stealing might attract a fair number, but the prospect of a fight would enlist almost all.”
“Action and destruction are fun. The concerned observer who will not grant it indulges in a hypocrisy which we cannot afford. He who regards a taste for violent action as a human perversion will not likely make any great contribution to the containment of our violent way. Similarly, the observer who seeks nothing but earnest motivation in riot and arson, who looks only to environmental deprivation, neglect or injustice to explain it—who in other words seeks wholly in the action of the majority the motivations of the minority—may flatter himself one day that he was violence’s most dependable ally.”
x x x
“There is visible throughout all nature a bias in favor of order x x”
“Humans shares with other animals three innate needs which demand satisfaction. The first is identity, the opposite of anonymity and it is the highest. The second is stimulation, the opposite of boredom. The lowest is security, the opposite of anxiety.”
“These innate needs—identity, stimulation and security—form a dynamic triad. Achievement of security and release from anxiety present us with boredom. It is the psychological process least appreciated by our social planners. Increasing affluence, and decreasing economic anxiety, is producing the bored society described by Desmond Morris in The Human Zero.”
“The bored society could not be a reality, however, were we other than the anonymous society stripped in large part of our opportunity to search for identity. It is the most pressing of motives—to know who we are in our own eyes but even more in the eyes of our fellows. x x x And so the frustration of the search for identity from above, just as much as the achievement of security from below, forces the member of a contemporary society into the unendurable area of boredom. Imprisoned by both affluence and anonymity, no way presents itself but stimulation.”
“Pornography and riot are of a piece. x x x All provide stimulation for shocker and shocked alike in bored societies with nowehere else to go.”
“And violence, too, is stimulating. It carries excitement for both violator and violated, whether through the joyful hatreds of the one or the fearful rages of the other. A riot in Chicago is worth all the circuses that old time emperors could provide. And like any other form of sensual shock, violence to retain its stimulation must proceed to stronger or more levels of expression. That adoptable animal, the human being, habituates himself all too easily to any present situation.”
x x x
“But the violent subgroup, even as it asserts itself, defeats itself. x x x”
“Violent subgroups now threaten our modem society. But at the same time the very intricacy of our social interdependence threatens the survival of those violent little worlds. The animal cannot stand alone, and least of all animals, modem man.”
“Long before total social disorder can take place, human foresight, combined with our biological need for order, should have taken command. The question we cannot now answer is when. Shall sufficient of us glimpse the road to disaster in time?”
“If we do, then with whatever pain we shall accept certain compromises, surrender certain rights which we believe sacred, provide prizes for identity which we now deny, contain our violent confrontations within such ritualized aggressions as negotiations, seeks to correct those genuine injustices which lend respectability to violent arrangements and discourage social applause for the violator.”
“And if we do not? If we lack the will or the vision to see what waits for us?”
“A few years ago our eminent journalist and historian of the making of Presidents, Theodore H. White, published a play called Caesar at the Rubicon. While Rome sank deeply into anarchy, Julius Caesar by agreement stayed with his powerful army beyond the river. The play, of course, concerns his final reluctant decision to break the agreement, proceed to Rome and assume dictatorial power. And it close with a simple comment worthy of being stamped on the coin of every democracy.
“If men cannot agree on how to rule themselves someone else must rule them.”
“If we have not the foresight, if we have not the will, then we shall discover one day who waits beyond our Rubicon.”
End.
How strikingly apropos to our situation!
10:40 PM December 27, 1971[4]
Monday
I could not land in Vigan because of the rain that started early in Ilocos Sur although it was clear in Baguio. It started to rain in La Union at about 9:15 when we were at the airfield at San Fernando deciding whether to proceed to Vigan or not.
We took off from Loakan Airport at 8:45. It took us 15 minutes to get to San Fernando. I took the Fokker and Bongbong and Miguelito [Vazquez] took the PNB [Philippine National Bank] Kingair.
While waiting for the “Go” signal from our advance party at Vigan, we went to the Poro Point Resthouse and water skied in the rain. Then I took a nap.
The weather in Vigan turned bad. So we took and [sic] early lunch and came back to Baguio at 12:30. The road from Banang to Burgos is in bad need of repair. We arrived at 1:30 PM.
Although I had asked the Vigan conference not to come and see me anymore, they came all the way to Baguio, Chavit [Luis] Singson with Gen. [Felizardo] Tanabe in a U-17 (he says he saw a hole in the clouds at 1:30 PM and dived in. Tony [Antonio] Villanueva was landed in Lingayen and came by car to Baguio. Bingbong [Vicente] Crisologo same by car with mayors, vice mayors and councilors.
The Naguillian road above Burgos was enshrouded in thick clouds and fog. Bongbong who was trying to sleep commented wryly, “looks familiar.” It certainly did look like London.
Took a long nap till the conference arrived.
I asked them that:
Each faction must prepare its list of wanted men charged in court and the other faction should surrender them for investigation and trial.
A “Shoot to Kill” order will be issued for those who do not surrender.
The local police will be screened by Polcon. Initially all PC [Philippine Constabulary] security detail (there are more than 80 men from the PC assigned as security detail of the politicians) will be withdrawn and 4 policemen per municipality will be armed.
Both factions will agree to an economic development plan for the province.
They will call their respective followers to a continuing series of conferences to prevent any farther bloodshed.
My worry is that the deteriorating peace and order condition will be taken advantage of by the communists. Both Jose Maria Sison and Victor Corpus are from Ilocos Sur.
As Gen. Tanabe states it, both factions are engaged in violence. And the supposed NPA [New People’s Army] raids on eight towns of the province were probably engineered by Tony Villanueva and Bingbong Crisologo.
But, definitely, the NPA’s have infiltrated the province but not to the degree claimed by Gov. Tony Villanueva.
We are going to start planting men in the barrios to join the NPA recruiters so that we may have ready intelligence assets.
We should not allow the Isabela takeover to be duplicated in Ilocos Sur.
2:00 AM December 28, 1971[5]
[1] Official Gazette for December 24, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS met with his Cabinet to review and assess the administrations performance during the year about to end, and to find out its failings and problems. The meeting started with the President thanking the members of the Cabinet for their full support and cooperation, saying, “more than anybody else, I am aware of the credit that should be extended to each and everyone of you who helped a lot in the face of the many calamities, both natural and man-made, that beset us. During the meeting, which “was the last for the current year and attended by members of the Financial and Fiscal Policy Committee and some other heads of offices and agencies, the President: Asked for formal reports from the various departments for incorporation in the state-of-the-nation and budget messages; Ordered the increase of funds for the procurement of local palay at not less than P22 per cavan; Directed that expenditures for normal government operations be cut to the minimum so that funds for capital outlays and investment could be increased; Instructed the various government financing institutions to make more credit facilities available for agriculture and industries; Created a three-man committee to map out a program to salvage the cement industry. The committee is composed of NEC Chairman Gerardo P. Sicat, as chairman, with Chairmen Leonides S. Virata of the DBP and Vicente Paterno of the Board of Investments, as members. Ordered the various departments to submit legislative proposals to be recommended to Congress when it meets in regular session next month. Toward the end of the meeting, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo, after conveying the best wishes of the other members of the Cabinet to the President, expressed the hope that “we can continue supporting you in facing the crises that may come.” Prior to the Cabinet meeting, the President received a briefing from the Financial and Fiscal Policy Committee on the effects of the dollar devaluation on the Philippine currency as well as on the nation’s economy. Present at the four-hour meeting were Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., Secretaries Conrado F. Estrella of Agrarian Reform, Constancio E. Castaneda of General Services, Efren I. Plana of National Defense, Arturo R. Tanco, Jr. of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Vicente Abad Santos of Justice, Troadio T. Quiazon, Jr. of Commerce and Industry, Adrian E. Cristobal of Labor, Juan L. Manuel of Education, Carlos P. Romulo of Foreign Affairs, Amadeo H. Cruz of Health, Cesar ,E. A. Virata of Finance; Chairmen Leonides S. Virata of the Development Bank of the Philippines, Vicente Paterno of the Board of Investments and Gerardo P. Sicat of the National Economic Council; Administrator Eduardo Rodriguez of the Office of Economic Coordination, Budget Commissioner Faustino Sy-Changco, Director-General Apolinario Orosa of the Presidential Economic Staff, Commissioner Mama Sinsuat of National Integration, Undersecretary of Social Welfare Petra de Joya; Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad, Gov. Gregorio S. Licaros of the Central Bank, Philippine National Bank President Eusebio Villatuya, Assistant Executive Secretary Roberto V. Reyes, GSIS General Manager Roman A. Cruz, Jr. and SSS Acting Administrator Reynaldo Gregorio. Earlier in the day, the President received Admiral and Mrs. Samuel E. Morrison who called to pay their respects following their arrival early in the morning. Admiral Morrison, the world’s foremost living historian-adventurer, was tracing the 40,000-mile round-the-world route taken by Ferdinand Magellan who came to the Philippines in 1521. Later, the President discussed with Secretary of Labor Adrian E. Cristobal matters affecting the latter’s department; and with Rep. Tito Dupaya of Cagayan the problems of his constituencies. The President devoted most of his time in the afternoon and early evening to desk work. As it was the eve of Christmas day, the President issued the following message: “As we celebrate Christmas this year, we find our nation in dire need of greater unity, faith and hope. The fabric upon which is woven the strength and oneness of our people is increasingly strained by new forces of emnity and discord, we are called upon to rededicate ourselves to the constructive labor of human goodwill, charity and sacrifice. “In a society menaced by social, political and economic opportunism and unrest, it is oftentimes necessary to speak of total rebirth in order to attain our objectives. Let us, on this occasion, afford ourselves a deeper reflection on this. “If we need to build a more lasting solidarity and oneness, let us now build it. “If we need to keep a strong faith, as well as a higher sense of duty to ourselves, let us now work for it. “The true meaning of Christmas would be lost, if it does not bring us to a deeper consciousness of the duties that we bear towards our neighbors, our families and the future of our human community. For every single one of us who is fortunate and has much to thank for and celebrate this Christmas, there are thousands upon thousands, in our country and outside, who are hungry and deprived. “I ask the more fortunate among us to share the spirit of Christmas with the less fortunate. “At the same time I ask our people to now unite in one common resolve and end all petty quarrels and disputes that detract from our national goals. Our society must progress without internal dissidence or civil strife, we must build a more lasting society of our own and more effectively join the rest of the world in putting an end to the conflicts that divide nations and peoples. “I especially appeal to our own Christian and Muslim brothers in the South to find new ways of productive cooperation so that they may continue to live harmoniously together, not merely as Muslims and Christians, but as Filipinos bound to a common destiny under a common flag. “Our country and our people will be strong so long as we know the meaning of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. I, therefore, ask our people to forge on this occasion, a new covenant among themselves based on hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. “Merry Christmas to you all.”
[2] Official Gazette for December 25, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS did not received any callers. Christmas day notwithstanding, he went on with his usual desk work, reviewing reports submitted to him by various government departments and agencies. He also signed two executive orders—one providing for the organization of the Department of Agrarian Reform; and the other designating the new department as trustee of the special fund for assistance to the country’s land reform education program. The organization of the new Department was in accordance with Republic Act No. 6389, otherwise known as the Code of Agrarian Reforms of the Philippines; and upon the recommendation of the special committee created under Special Order No. 11 of the Land Reform Project Administration, and the Commission on Reorganization created under Republic Act No. 5435. The executive order defined the functions, powers, duties and responsibilities of the Secretary and Undersecretary of Agrarian Reform including those of the various units of the department. In that same executive order, the President required the Budget Commissioner to effect the orderly reallocation of funds and other transitional actions relative thereto, to enable the department to be fully operational within 60 days following the issuance of the order. The Budget Commissioner was likewise required to reflect in full the provisions of Republic Act No. 6389 and the executive order or parts thereof in the budget for the next succeeding fiscal year, and thereafter, except as may otherwise be more specifically provided. The designation of the Department, of Agrarian Reform, which was embodied in another executive order, was agreed upon by the Philippine and the United States governments when the latter made available to the former the special fund. The special fund, in the amount of 11,281,935, was appropriated by the U.S. government from the Special Fund for Education, U.S. Public Law No. 8894, known as the Land Reform Education Fund. As agreed upon by both the Philippine and U.S. governments, the Land Reform Education Fund will be established as a permanent trust fund, the income of which will be used to finance the land reform education program in the country. As trustee of the special fund, the Department of Agrarian Reform will perform the following functions, subject to the approval of the President; Formulate the general policy for the Fund, and make decisions on the use of the funds, income and capital gains, including final action on appropriation for grants and research projects; Formulate and adopt an assistance program based on educational programs which have been set forth in the agreement on the use of the fund; extending preference to projects which are enduring or self-sustaining, or which incorporate counterpart financial agreements; Approve programs and projects to be undertaken by the Philippine Land Reform Center for Continuing Education which shall implement such programs and projects out of the earnings of the fund; Obtain professional counsel and services for the wise and prudent management of the fund entrusted to it through an Investment and Financial Manager; and Employ staff personnel, advisers and consultants to assist in the educational program, planning and implementation. In the evening, the President in a wire condoled with the bereaved family of the late Secretary of Health Amadeo H. Cruz, who succumbed to heart attack at 5:50 a.m., on Christmas Day. In extending condolence, the President called Secretary Cruz a dedicated public servant, who spent a lifetime in the service of his people.
[3] Official Gazette for December 26, 1971: IT WAS another day of desk work for President Marcos, as his usual schedule of callers for the day was clear. Among the official matters he acted upon was the recommendation of the Monetary Board, contained in a resolution it passed at a recent meeting, which would authorize the Financial and Fiscal Policy Committee (FFPC) to make an over-all review of allocation, expenditure, investment and lending of government resources, and the economy as a whole. In an executive order, the President authorized the FFPC to create executive committees and such other sub-committees as may be necessary for it to effectively carry out national objectives, achieving this by means of balanced and integrated fiscal, monetary and economic policy; and of coordinating and synchronizing the borrowing and lending activities of government financial institutions. The Financial and- Fiscal Policy Committee was reconstituted on April 21, 1970 under Executive Order No. 225 in order to integrate into one body all functions pertaining to fiscal, financial and government investment policies. As reconstituted, the committee is composed of the Secretary of Finance, Commissioner of the Budget, Chairman of the National Economic Council, Governor of the Central Bank, Administrator of the Office of Economic Coordination, Chairman of the Board of Investments, Chairman of Vie Development Bank of the Philippines, General Manager of the GSIS, President of the PNB, Administrator of the SSS and Director-General of the Presidential Economic Staff. In the evening the President, together with the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and their three children, Irene, Bongbong and Irene, motored to Nichols Air Base in Pasay City where they boarded the presidential fokker plane for Baguio City.
[4] Official Gazette for December 27, 1971: THE PRESIDENT met with leaders of the two warring factions in Ilocos Sur, headed by Acting Gov. Antonio Villanueva and Vincent. P. Crisologo, on one hand; and Governor-elect Luis Singson and his brother, Evaristo, mayor-elect of Vigan, on the other. Meeting them at the guesthouse in Bagnio City, the President persuaded the said officials to surrender their followers who were wanted by the law. He directed them to prepare their respective lists of followers and asked them to submit the same to Brig. Gen. Felizardo Tanabe, First PC Zone commander, who was also present at the meeting for verification with the warrants of arrest in the hands of the PC. Crisologo and Singson assured the President that they will surrender their respective followers against whom warrants of arrest had been issued not later than January 15. Earlier in the morning, the President flew to Vigan in order to preside over the scheduled meeting of incumbent and newly-elected officials of the province to ensure a smooth turn-over of authority on December 30. However, because of inclement weather the President could not land in Vigan and instead landed at Poro Point from where he motored back to Baguio City. Upon arrival in the city, the President summoned the Ilocos Sur political leaders to the Pines City for the conference. The political leaders arrived in the city later in the afternoon. They were accompanied by General Tanabe, Lt. Col. J. F. Cuaresma, PC provincial commander; and the following mayors of the province: Benjamin Sanidad of Sto. Domingo, chairman of Ilocos Sur Mayors League Antonio Cabaldon of Caoayan, Porfirio Rapanut of Sta. Catalina, George Cabacungan of Sinait, Fely Quilala of San Juan, Juanito Tolentino of Magsingal, Juanito Langiten of Sugpon, Vice Mayor Pablo Arde of Vigan, and Mrs. Marciano Salibo, widow of the late mayor of San Emilio. Also during the day, the President designated Undersecretary of Health Clemente Gatmaitan as officer-in-charge of the Department of Health. The designation was issued by Assistant Executive Secretary Roberto V. Reyes on order of the President, in view of the sudden passing of Secretary Amadeo H. Cruz, who succumbed to a stroke the other day.
[5] Official Gazette for December 28, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS, in a tape-recorded speech aired over three radio stations “in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, appealed to the people of the province to forget political differences. The President told the province’s folk to “forget political squabbles, unite, cooperate, and face the greater challenges of nation-building. The President called on the people of Ilocos Sur to stand united against the problems of peace and order now that the “elections are over and that we should respect the electorate’s will in the last elections.” The President’s speech, tape-recorded in Baguio City was broadcast over the radio stations because of the cancellation of his scheduled Vigan trip. The President, through Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., issued a proclamation declaring Tuesday, January 4, a special public holiday in the Bicol region. The day marks the anniversary of the execution of the 15 martyrs of the Bicol in 1897.