Official Gazette for January 18, 1973: PRESIDENT MARCOS issued the following statement on the ratification of the new Constitution:
“The ratification of our new Constitution marks the end of an old era and its old ways; it marks as well the beginning of a future, tinged perhaps with unknown perils for those who are prisoners of their own tears, but nevertheless a future of novel and unsurpassed opportunities for the fulfillment of our people’s long dormant hopes and dreams.
“Our future is here, whether or not we recognize this fact, and there is now no turning back the tide. It is easier perhaps and more comfortable to look back to the solace of a familiar and mediocre past, but the times are too grave and the stakes too high for us to permit the customary concessions to traditional democratic processes to hold back our people’s clear and unequivocal resolve and mandate to meet and overcome the extraordinary challenges presented by these extraordinary times.
“Our people have spoken with wisdom and courage. We must now translate their wishes into concrete positive acts. They want a new Constitution, thus we have a new Constitution. They reject the politics of the old, thus we have ratified the citizens assemblies or the barangays as the organ through which government must now consult with the people, and the people with their government. They do not want our people to bear the cost of an ad interim assembly, so we shall not convene them. In ratifying the new Constitution, we ratified the wisdom of the people; it is now for us to live by that new charter.
“Let not our people be swayed from their chosen path by those who are capable of dispensing only high rhetoric and unredeemable pledges, by those who curse the darkness where there really is light.
“Going the new way will require gifts of character our people innately possess. I invite our people now to close ranks and blaze the way to what I am certain is a secure and happy future, guided by God’s awesome grace and the light of our new Constitution.”
PRESIDENT MARCOS, at the same time, called upon everyone to comply with the provisions of the new Constitution as well as with all the laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations now in force. The President, likewise, called upon all provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, barrio captains and all other local officials to continue discharging their duties in accordance with existing laws and with the orderly administration of government. The President pointed out that under the new Constitution, all local officials are to carry on with their functions until otherwise provided by law or by decree. The Chief Executive sounded the call in a message sent out to all citizens assemblies and barangays which he congratulated and to which he conveyed his gratitude for the prompt support and cooperation they extended their government m connection with the recent referendum.
JUSTICE UNDERSECRETARY Efren Plana said that contrary to popular belief, the President did not ratify the new charter but only proclaimed its ratification by the people through the recently concluded referendum initiated by means of the citizens assemblies and barangays all over the country. He said that the nation is now governed by the new charter and because of the “transition nature” of the government’s machinery at present, there is a need for a “concentration of powers” border to have “decisiveness” in recouping lost ground. The undersecretary said that President Marcos may exercise the powers of the Prime Minister and of the President as embodied in the ‘72 charter, in addition to his old powers as President under the old Constitution, as provided for in the Charter.
POLICE COMMISSION Chairman Crispino M. De Castro ordered the suspension of nine chiefs of police and 85 policemen from all over the country who have been charged in various administrative cases. The order brings to a total of 738 police personnel ordered suspended by the Polcom since the imposition of Martial Law. Of this number, 34 are chiefs of police. Chairman de Castro said 706 of those now under suspension have been barred from the police service until after the final disposition of their cases.
GREATER DEDICATION to duty by customs appraisers and examiners at the Port of Manila has netted for the government an additional income of P18,441,199, representing collection of tax discrepancies due to misclassification of 2,795 import entries during the second quarter of the current fiscal year from October to December 1972. Customs Commissioner Rolando G. Geotina said that the figure is P9,774,956 more than what was collected during the first quarter, from July to September 1972, which was only P8,666,243.
ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT agencies were reminded by President Marcos that apprehensions and detentions should be made only on the basis of sworn statements of complaining parties and not on charges made merely
Imelda called up to say that the Tilman Durdin story in New York Times, although calling my administration authoritarian and saying there were observations that some of the returns from the citizens assemblies were allegedly falsified, was generally favorable and balances the previous day’s editorial saying that my proclaiming the new constitution spelled the death of western type democracy in the Philippines. But a [Swertzman?] story also criticizes my actions but rather wildly.
So has Parker of the Newsweek. He recommends that the American government put some distance between them and the new strong man in Asia.
We expected this as the Americans feel resentful of the parliamentary form of government.
The State Department has kept silent.
Met the governors and mayors up to 3:30 PM.
I attach confessions and pictures of the persons guilty of kidnapping even after martial law. PC [Philippine Constabulary] personnel are guilty. We have to check if the Inspector General and Intelligence as well as NICA [National Intelligence Coordinating Agency] are checking in AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] personnel.
through anonymous letters or by irresponsible individuals. In the course of his conferences with a number of local executives, the President emphasized that anonymous letters should, at most, be made the bases for investigation or surveillance.
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