We suffered 11 casualties in Bo. [Barrio] Barababul, Concepcion, Tarlac in an ambush. But the patrol was careless. They knew the area was HMB [Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan] territory and they entered it without a reconnaissance at 10:00 in the evening in a weapons carrier.
So this morning I ordered forty jeeps to be armored. It costs P8,000 each jeep. And to prepare removable armor for weapons carriers and trucks. Went to Supply Center and PC [Philippine Constabulary] Hq. to see the example vehicles, some of which are now in Malacañang.
Bade goodbye to the Australian Ambassador ([Francis] Stewart) who is being reassigned to Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Norwegian Ambassador who goes to Sweden.
Then met some governors and congressmen.
Played golf for the first time in Malacañang in two weeks, then conference up to 9:00 PM.
Official Gazette for July 6, 1970: President Marcos started the day with his usual state papers to study and act on, but toward noon, he left Malacañang for Camp Crame where he inspected newly-armored vehicles of the Philippine Constabulary.
The rest of his day was filled with conferences, mostly private, with various officials, and callers. In-between, he concentrated on the pile of papers on his desk.
Leaving Malacañang shortly after 11 a.m., the President motored to Camp Crame, in Quezon City, where he looked over the small fleet of PC armored cars. After the inspection, he asked the AFP to design and implement plans for armoring more military jeeps which are usually used by patrol teams in Central Luzon. He said armored cars are needed to reduce the risk of patrols who have to contend with the modern weapons of dissidents.
Returning to Malacañang at 12 noon, the President shortly received Australian Ambassador Francis Hamilton Stuart and Norwegian Ambassador Axel Ivar Lucien Moltke-Hansen, both of whom have completed their tours of duty here as their countries’ envoys and are due for reassignment. The ambassadors paid a farewell call on the President.
Among those the President conferred with in private were GSIS General Manager Roman Cruz, Jr., former GSIS General Manager Benjamin del Rosario and Rep. Pablo Roman of Bataan. Others who called on official business included House Majority Floor-leader Marcelino Veloso, Pangasinan Gov. Tito Primicias, Rep. Jose Puyat and Gov. Recaredo Castillo of Surigao del Sur, and Gov. Salvacion Yñiguez of Southern Leyte. The President later designated Luis V. Balili as acting chairman of the Board of Examiners for Mechanical Engineering, to fill the post vacated by ToBias P. Marcelo whose term of office had expired; Jose G. Caburian, as acting member of the Mechanical Engineering board, to succeed Clodeveo Soriano whose term had expired; and Mrs. Ligaya D. Perez as acting member of the Board of Examiners in Optometry, to fill the vacancy caused by the termination of the term of Tomas Abesamis. The President also ordered a thorough inquiry into the root causes of disputes over land areas in Mindanao, with a view to finding the means for permanently solving the problem. Upon the President’s instructions, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr. flew to Cotabato on a fact-finding trip.
Then went to attend the reunion given by Imelda for the Phil. beauties who went with her to Expo ‘70