I attach the Newsweek issue of Feb. 16th on India.
P.M. [Prime Minister] Indira Gandhi has copied our measures, including the amnesty for income tax.
But they have gone farther on arrests of political enemies and control of media.
Malaysia has made it incumbent upon all their arrested persons to prove their innocence, otherwise they are convicted.
Official Gazette for February 17, 1976: THE PRESIDENT warned that the government is determined and prepared to preserve the stability of the country at all costs. He sounded the warning during the graduation rites of the Class ’76 cadet of the Philippine Military Academy held at Ft. Del Pilar, Baguio City, which coincided with the 71st anniversary of the founding of the PMA. The President asserted that the government is ready to check any campaign against the government thereby preventing the buildup of insurgency and dissidence. Addressing the PMA cadets, the President asked them to renew their commitment to uphold the law, and to be imbued with the spirit of moral regeneration and to dedicate their lives to the betterment of the country.
Office of the President of the Philippines
Manila
Insert Ep. 13
Let me state in resume:
There is the common belief that the program of human settlements can be [trashed?] and a separate and distinct program of action whether in government or in the private sector.
Human settlements cannot be an isolated program.
It is a reflection of the entire government and the New Society.
The presumption, of course, is a minimum of national economic development beyond mere survival—
So the need for a viable economy.
When the economy is endangered by crisis, must the program of human settlements be postponed?
Not necessarily. But a restudy of requirements and other programs necessary. It is precisely during the period of ______.
In a period of crises, it should be a program, however, which does not unduly burden the national budget—
But can be implemented with the existing national projects and budget although those may be reoriented and realigned.
It is not just a government policy. It must be a plan of action for the mass of the citizenry.
And it must be a program that can be implemented with the resources of the individual citizen today.
Thus its ultimate aim is the rechanneling of national and individual energies.
Its objective like all government like all government policies is the building of a dignified and self-reliant citizenry—not a burden on the state as in a completely welfare state but a co-builder of the state.
Like all other government policies, the policy of human settlements indicated by
This undated text appears to be the outline of a speech and is included in the February 1976 folder.
The text at the bottom of this paragraph is unreadable.
compassion and humanism, but such compassion and humanism must not spawn mendicancy.
Any policy that suggests doles and gifts from the state instead of suggestion opportunities for self-improvement and the development of [Galignian?] faculties, must be rejected by any self-respecting nation.
Instead of free doles, our government shall give opportunities to earn so that the individual can buy what he requires for a better life.
Thus in the development of settlements and groups of habitations there are attractions that unconsciously bend the growth of communities.
Such are job or income opportunities; infrastructure like roads, power, and waterworks; education; amusement and recreation, identification or culture etc.
These are all within the control, fully or partly, of government.
The government plan for human settlements seeks to replace the unconscious inclination or growth with a deliberate and studied projection of growth of communities by the control of the growth factors and a comprehensive design of human habitation and facilities.
Thus in this country we have rechanneled more and more funds into the rural areas. There is more income flowing into the hands of the farmer then to the employee or wage earner in the city. This is due not only to the land reform program but to the rural credit system that has lent billions of pesos to the tenant and small farmer in the last three years.
Regional offices, highways, cross-roads, river-crossings, seaports or airports will have to be located and established. They will attract settlements.
The dispersal of factories as well as the countryside small and medium scale industries program, the rural electrification program, the self-employment program, the youth training program and other programs are factors that will have to be considered in plans for human settlements.
The lesson we have learned is that no settlement can survive without jobs for the new settlers or some other source of income. This is specially true of the unskilled laborers and those who are not habituated to work for a living.
The other lesson is that the leadership in the community often reflects substantially on the quality of life of its inhabitants.
So it is now quite rudimentary wisdom to say that one cannot create a community by the mere transfer of people and calling the site a new town or city.
All the growth factors must be established and the support facilities operational.
Thus planning for human settlements means the entire gamut of government programming from industry to agriculture, banking to recreation, roads to electricity, parks to schools, housing to ecology.
Since all policies of government impinge upon the quality of life of our people, then a study of the problem of human settlements must include the study of all government policies and programs and how they can be utilized to bring about the healthy growth of human settlements.