If we leave the bases negotiations to the military or the Dept. of Foreign Affairs which have neither imagination nor ingenuity, we will not get anywhere. The negotiations will bog down on details.
So we must inject new elements. We showed interest American businessmen in the investments for the industrial complexes to be put up in the bases. At the same time the strategic importance of the Philippines should be re-emphasized by the scholars and geo-political experts. We need to create a forum tor this.
I have directed Ex. Sec. Alex [Alejandro] Melchor [Jr.] to do so.
Attached are my notes on his letter.
Official Gazette for January 3, 1976: THE PRESIDENT has relaxed the rules governing the temporary registration of foreign-owned vessels to Philippine nationals for domestic trade use by allowing all charter parties to be temporarily registered and also by reducing the effectivity and validity of the charter or lease from not less than five year to one year. Previously, those allowed to be registered by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) included only vessels under time charter. In Presidential Decree No. 866 amending PD 760, the President directs that the- word “time” be deleted from the original decree’s title and body, saying that the term is “too technical and restrictive as to exclude other forms of charter parties,” The new decree is designed to give “a certain degree of flexibility to the charterer or lessee in the use of the vessel.”
This entry was initially misdated as 1976 but corrected.