Official Gazette for February 16, 1973: THE PRESIDENT ordered the Philippine Medical Care Commission (PMCC) to supervise and administer the expenditures of the income of government hospitals from the medicare program. The President’s instruction was aimed at expediting the use of the earnings of the government hospitals from medicare to their own improvements.. As provided for by E.A. 6111, otherwise known as the Medicare Law, the income of government hospitals from medicare is to be constituted as a revolving fund for the particular hospital, for the upgrading and expansion of its facilities and for its maintenance and operation, subject to the approval of the Department of Health. In view of the authority given the PMCC, the commission issued the following guidelines for the government hospitals: 1) Deposit the earnings from Medicare in interest-bearing government depository banks doing business in the Philippines, preferably in the Philippine National Bank or in any of its branches or agencies; 2) Formulate plans and programs for the upgrading and expansion of their facilities and for other necessary improvements; and 3) Submit to the PMCC for approval such plans and programs.
SECRETARY OF INFORMATION Francisco S. Tatad said that in any program of social change, education is always a central agent for the changes being sought, and for the arrival of the new order. The DPI secretary pointed out that at this particular time, when we have, committed all our lives and resources to the transformation of our society, our inquiry into our educational system must be directed at the outset to fundamental question of making ‘cultural revolution. He recalled that in the past we have always been hampered by our colonial heritage and by the models offered by the Western World and it was by this route that the “empty shibboleths of revolution and relevance found their way into our vocabulary and thereby prevented us from really understanding our conditions and what had been happening to us this many years.” He asked the educational institutions to unravel the talent latent in the people to give it illumination and scope thereby open to it the possibilities of liberation, noting that we can “proceed to educate the young if we are clear about the image of the Filipino individual and the society we seek.”
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE board of the “Mabuhay Ang Pilipino Movement” announced that it has decided to convert the movement into an incorporated foundation after a meeting last Feb. 13. A committee is now working on the final draft of the by-laws of the de facto foundation. The movement was organized last Nov. 30 by civic leaders representing a-cross-section of both governmental and non-governmental sectors. As constituted at present, it is a loose confederation of some 50 civic organizations and trade and professional groups whose voluntary membership and services are being directed by a national executive board. Projects to be undertaken by the movement will complement government activities in the fields of youth development, environmental beautification, pollution control, health and sanitation; small business development, consumers cooperatives, self-help marketing assistance, etc.
NOBODY SHOULD take Filipino citizenship lightly to suit his convenience. The consequences may be harsh and irreversible. This dictum was expressed by Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation Edmundo M. Reyes when he denied the petition of a Chinese national to reassume his Filipino citizenship after having renounced it for flimsy seasons; Ang Chu, 45, of Calamca, Misamis, Occidental, was recognized as a Filipino citizen by the commission upon his claim that he is the son of a Filipino father and a Chinese mother. A look at his records revealed, however, that on February 9, 1949, Ang executed a document renouncing his Filipino citizenship so that he could be issued a reentry permit to enable him to visit his family and relatives in Hongkong and China. At that time, restrictions on the travel of Filipino citizens made it hard for them to travel to Hongkong and other contiguous areas and the only way Ang could go there was to renounce his Filipino citizenship and apply for documents as a Chinese citizen. He filed a renunciation of his Filipino citizenship under oath with the help of travel agents. Later, Ang applied for the return of his Filipino citizenship and the issuance of an identification certificate as a Filipino. This application was granted by the commission on the approval of a former associate commissioner, and the favorable recommendation of immigration officials. When the Commissioner discovered the old documents of renunciation, he revoked the old order, and ruled that with Ang’s renunciation of citizenship, he may reacquire Filipino citizenship only through naturalization. Ang was ordered to surrender his ID certificate and comply with the Alien Registration Law requirements for aliens or face arrest.
TWO IMPORTANT Philippine projects, the Laguna de Bay Water Resource Development Project and the Special Assistance for Highway Rehabilitation Project were approved by the governing council of the United Nations
Aboard the
Ang Pangulo where I
will sleep so we can start
for Talaga at 6:00 AM
The world monetary situation is still confused. The devaluation of the dollar has not solved the situation. The U.S. President is threatening to set up tariff barriers against imports specially from Japan with which it had a $4 billion trade deficit in the last year. American bankers are agreed that devaluation no longer is effective to meet the problem of the U.S.
I do not envy Pres. [Richard] Nixon. But he seems determined to solve the U.S. trade deficit and the erosion of the dollar once and for all. I hope it does not mean a trade war. Or recession. We, the small nations, will again pay the bill.
Have just received a memo recommending the organization of a full Tansog Brigade to fight the Sulu insurgents. It confirms foreign intervention in Sulu.
I attach telegrams conveying Pres. Soeharto’s message on Libyan efforts to obtain Indonesian support for the Secessionist Movement in Mindanao and Sulu.
Development Programme (UNDP). The Laguna de Bay Project involves approximately US$101,000 intended to confirm the feasibility of utilizing the Lake as source of fresh water supply. Specifically, the project involves studies on water quality and management, water supply plant design, and a hydraulic control structure with navigational lock. The Highway Rehabilitation Project involves approximately 249,900, intended to restore road networks in Central Luzon which were destroyed during the July-August floods.