Official Gazette for February 11, 1970: President Marcos continued to carry on an increasingly substantive dialogue with student leaders, when he conferred with a representative group in Malacañang for about an hour. The leaders of the National Union of Students of the Philippines who met with the President were: Edgar Jopson, president; Lulu Valte, vice president; Melanie Dacudao, secretary; John Dimalanta and Alfredo Zamora of the Philippine Science High School; Jimmie Dizon of San Sebastian College; Gigi Katigbak of St. Theresa’s College and Paul Dominguez and Romy Chen of Ateneo University. Also present at the conference were Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad, Secretary of Labor Blas F. Ople and Presidential Executive Assistant Jacobo C. Clave.
Following his conference with the students, the President received Liharat Ram, president of the International Chamber of Commerce, who paid his respects to the Chief Executive following his arrival here on a tour of ICC chapters. Dr. Ram was accompanied to Malacañang by the officials of the Philippine chapter of the ICC, headed by Dr. Manuel Lim, and including Dr. Ralph Nubla, Roger Manalo, Luciano E. Salazar, Justo N. Lopez, Kay Sham, Ramon Faustmann and William H. Quasha. After receiving Dr. Ram, the President inducted into office Brig. Gen. Florencio Medina (ret.), as acting chairman of the National Science Development Board, vice Dr. Juan Salcedo. Present at the oath-taking were congressmen led by Speaker Jose B. Laurel Jr. officials of the NSDB led by outgoing Chairman Salcedo, and close relatives and friends led by Mrs. Medina.
At well past noon, the President started receiving callers, most of whom were congressmen, it being Congressmen’s Day at Malacañang. Later Director of Forestry Jose Viado called to submit a partial report on the resettlement of urban squatters. Viado pinpointed some 3,000 hectares of the public domain in Rizal, and 9,000 hectares in Bataan, as possible sites for the relocation of squatters from the Greater Manila area. Director Viado added that he will continue to look for other likely areas for resettling squatted. Rep. Aguedo Agbayani of Pangasinan also submitted a plan to the President, for developing the Hundred Islands as a potential tourist attraction. Rep. Agbayani proposed the improvement of a 9-kilometer road serving Lucap, Alaminos, Pangasinan, from where tourists will have easy access to the Hundred Islands. Chairman Faustino Tobia of CEPOC Industries, Inc. called on the President to report on the progress of negotiations for the acquisition of machinery, which is needed to fully exploit the CEPOC Malangas coal deposits. Chairman Tobia reported that due to lack of machinery, the monthly production of Malangas coal, which is considered of very high grade, was limited to from 200 to 400 tons, which is not enough to meet even local needs. Tobia reported that according to estimates, the Malangas coal mine has deposits of between 15 to 20 million tons of high quality coal, and that if fully exploited this could be a high-potential dollar-earning industry. Rep. Jose Neri of Camiguin reported to the President that Hibok-Hibok volcano was showing signs of activity and requested that the Commission on Volcanology be asked to conduct investigations.
Other callers who took up with the President matters affecting their districts were Reps. Guillermo Sanchez of Agusan del Norte, Felipe Abrigo of Eastern Samar, Lamberto Macias and Jose Pro-Teves of Negros Oriental, Antonio Diaz of Zambales, Mariano Peñaflorida of Iloilo, Felipe Azcuña of Zamboanga del Norte, Joaquin Ortega and Jose E. Aspiras of La Union, Manuel Zoza, Emerito Calderon and Eduardo Gullas of Cebu, and Roberto Sabido of Albay. The President finished receiving callers at almost 3 p.m. Later in the afternoon and through the evening, the President attended to his desk work.
Among other actions, the President:
1) Directed Secretary of Social Welfare Gregorio Feliciano to extend all possible relief and assistance to the victims of the fire which hit Dagupan City recently. The President also asked the Philippine National Hank and the Development Bank of the Philippines to extend rehabilitation loans to the fire victims at liberal terms. 2) Instructed Roberto Benedicto, president of the Philippine National Bank, to leave for the United States and assist Central Bank Governor Gregorio S. Licaros in present economic negotiations with the United States. 3) Submitted to the board of the National Housing Corporation the name of Major General Gaudencio Tobias as general manager and executive vice president of the housing corporation with instruction for him to undertaken massive attack on the nation’s resettlement and housing
[p.77] Comparative quiet. The radicals have called off their rally in Plaza Miranda and will probably hold rallies in the campuses. Met with the UP [University of the Philippines] moderates headed by Gordon and Ortega. They are planning to put up their newspaper.
Commander Sumulong [Faustino del Mundo] sent word through [Eduardo] Danding Cojuangco [Jr.] that the rioting in Malacañang was brought about by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]. Jim Rafferty had said that he made inquiries about the squatters and they had refused to join the rally. This he said was different from Indonesia where they had.
Commander Sumulong is going after Commander Dante [Bernabe Buscayno] in Tarlac. He says Dante is wounded in a previous skirmish and may be moving around in a hammock. Danding suspects that [Benigno] Ninoy Aquino [Jr.] is hiding him in either: Antipolo, Puingay, or the Joe Rojas ranch in Bataan. Sumulong promises to get him.
Col. Tomas Diaz is now Zone-2 and needs P80,000 for six civilian jeeps, one jeep each for the six teams and six more vehicles plus P10,000 monthly. We will start going after those Ma-Mao’s in a big way.
Have asked Bobby [Roberto] Benedicto to join [Gregorio] Licaros in the US. He has sought a leave of absence preparatory [p.78] to retirement. Executive Vice Pres. [Eusebio] Villatuya is Acting President of PNB [Philippine National Bank].
Am still looking for replacements in the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue], Customs and the financing institutions as well as Undersecretaries of Defense, Justice and Commerce.
Have asked Dir. of Forestry to locate 1,000 hectares near Manila and 1,000 hectares in Bataan near the Free Trade Zone for my resettlement projects.
Have appointed Gen. [Gaudencio] Tobias as Gen[eral] Man[ager] of the National Housing Corporation. I hope to build, 1,000 low-cost houses a month.
problem, aimed at bringing about a substantial solution to that problem by 1971. The NHC board of directors will elect the NHC general manager and executive vice president. At the same time, Presidential Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad said that surveys will be immediately initiated to determine how many families and individuals are directly affected by the housing and resettlement problem m the metropolitan areas.Immediate government efforts in this direction will include studies on credit for housing, along with similar studies on credit for education and self-employment.