We are at the lounging room of the ship after a light dinner. We have passed Buqui Pt. the northernmost point of Masbate and are south of Ticao and Burias proceeding northwest towards the south of Marinduque straight for the Batangas coast. Light seas, the ship slightly rolling. We expect to reach Manila by 10:00 o’clock in the morning tomorrow after a 17 hour trip. The trip from Iligan took about 20 hours.
We docked at Masbate, Masbate at 2:00 PM and were enthusiastically received by a crowd that carried placards reading “Imelda for President”—a thought which I have been trying very hard to discourage.Held a conference of the mayors, capitanes del barrio and other local officials at the provincial capitol where Governor Moises Espinosa prodded by Congressman Emilio Espinosa announced that Masbate was a hundred percent behind Imelda if I allowed her to run.
Discovered that the P970,000 I released for the roads of Masbate has been misspent by the former district engineer and the national highway specially to Plaridel is now impassable even by six-by-six trucks. I suspect that the congressman and the governor may have known the defalcation.
I have ordered the prosecution and jailing of the district engineer, auditor and other officials who were a party to the crime.
But I released P200,000 for the road, P200,000 for the pier, funds for the repair of the airport and the return 50% of the Tommy guns lent to the municipal police but taken back because of the abuse in some areas (105 lent and 98 recovered) so that cattle-rustling which has increased may be stopped.
I explained the reason for the increase of the tariff duty on crude oil. Sen. [Jose] Diokno is quoted in some papers as opposing the increase as made without consulting the Congress. Which of course is a brazen lie because the increase was recommended after a bipartisan conference in Malacañan of the bi-partisan leaders of Congress immediately after Typhoon Yoling.
And the power of the president is precisely granted by the Tariff and Customs Code for the president to exercise when Congress is not in session and is not consulted.
No Official Gazette entry for this day.
The damage caused by the two typhoons, Sening and Yoling is estimated at P200 million while the calamity fund granted the appropriations act is only P13 million, P4 million of which has been spent on the three typhoons before these.
So we have to raise more funds for the general fund which can be spent for calamities.
The estimated increase of funds from the tariff increases is P60 million. This will go to the program of recovery and rehabilitation from the natural calamities.
We distributed the provincial and municipal credit advices from the excess income and the special highway fund.
But much as I distributed, Imelda still stole the show when she started distributing her packages of Maligayang Pasko. The mayors and leaders were told that the packages had to be given to the poorest and the most needful in their community.
And when we reached the ship and she lined up the small ill-kempt and ill-nourished children, and handed them bags of Christmas goodies, she really was beloved by the crowd. I could see it in their eyes.