Malacañang
Tuesday
12:10 PM
[p.54] Also met with Cong. [Justiniano] Montano at 11:30 AM. Asked him to stop his fellow Liberals from the crazy ideas of a coup d’etat.
Imelda left for Leyte to attend the installation of the Bishop of Palo. Have just called her up by phone patch. She says Olot is so beautiful, the Papal Nuncio says it is more beautiful than Napoli. The moon is out. It is a three quarter fading moon.
64 Official Gazette for January 27, 1970: President Marcos, in a long conference with the police chiefs of the Greater Manila area, asked for the dropping of charges preferred by the Manila police against student demonstrators, and enjoined them to be “more tolerant of the future leaders of the country.” He told the police chiefs that steps will also be taken to have the students drop their charges against the police but, at the same time, the President directed Chairman Crispino de Castro of the Police Commission to look into charges against individual policemen.The President summoned the chiefs of the various national investigative and law enforcement agencies and the Manila and suburban police to Malacañang to brief him on the demonstration which erupted m violence in front of Congress. The President, however, said that the police should continue with their investigations and to press charges against non-students who were in the demonstration and who were found to have been guilty of violence. He also ordered the different law enforcement agencies to refine their techniques and methods in dealing with disorders and to avoid the unnecessary use of force.
Apart from this conference, the President was involved mostly with desk work, receiving no visitors except U. S. Ambassador Henry Byroade and Rep. Justiniano S. Montano of Cavite, both in the morning. Later, in a television interview, the President said:
“I personally feel that every Filipino should have the opportunity, as you have the right, to ventilate any grievances peacefully. However, I consider that violence should never be a rightful or lawful instrument of ventilating grievance. I have directed Gen. De Castro, the PC and METROCOM to prepare their own critiques. We will then determine what measures should be taken to prevent any untoward event like the event yesterday. I have asked the police to be more tolerant of the students. We are living in an Aldeguer, Marcelino Veloso, and Aguedu Agbayani; and Governor Isidro Rodriguez of Rizal. [Some text missing from online version of OG, have not checked printed version.]
The only other engagement the President had was the meeting with members of the Nacionalista Party junta, who sat down with him in Malacañang in the morning to consider primary state problems. The President received no other visitors the whole day. In-between these two engagements, the President concentrated on his paper work. He also sent a directive to Mayor Antonio J. Villegas of Manila asking the latter to maintain peace and order “in all demonstrations that may be held in the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Manila.” The President issued the order in the wake of reports that Mayor Villegas had withdrawn Manila policemen assigned to demonstration areas purportedly because of criticism of the way the MPD handled the riotous student rally before Congress last Monday.The President’s order was handcarried to Mayor Villegas by Col. Gerardo Tamayo, MPD chief, who was summoned to a conference at Malacañang at noon
65 Chronicle 29 Jan1970 p. 3 under photo of FL greeting newly installed Leyte bishop is the story “Imelda RP’s Evita Peron Says American Magazine” quoting from New Yorker 20 Dec 1969 “Letter from Manila” by Robert Shaplen. On 30 January 1970 Chronicle published reply by Tatad p.19 who described the story as an “uncalled for slur on the person of the First Lady.”