7:30 PM
As I wait for the
dinner we give for
Henry Ford II
Henry Brimo of Phil. Overseas Drilling and Oil Co. came to report that they have had an oil flow at Apayao (or more properly Kalinga) in their strat hole at 654 feet. Their drilling rig is in Poro Pt. and ready to be transported 400 kilometers to their drilling site.
If we hit oil, this will answer all our balance of payments problems.
This is the first time that we have actually gotten oil that smells like gasoline and must be high grade oil at this level and under these circumstances. The Redeco oil in Cebu was a thick black mass of seepage. This was an oil flow.
And the prospects in Sarangani Peninsula and more so in Palawan are high.
Imelda brought Mrs. Ford, Rothchild and O’Donnell to IRRI [International Rice Research Institute] by helicopter, lunch at Nayong Filipino and a view of the Cultural Center. They then went shopping.
We have just come from the cocktail party of Ambassador [Henry] and Mrs. [Jitka]
Official Gazette for March 1, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS worked as usual early in the morning on state papers, in the course of which he:
1. Issued a proclamation extending the deadline for applying for free patents, to give national minorities ample time to perfect their petitions for land title;
2. Created a Fertilizer Commission to assess the current situation of the fertilizer industry and its needs; and
3. Submitted to the Commission on Appointments the designation of Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr. as alternate governor representing the Philippines in IBRD, as well as a number of nominees to posts in the Office of the Solicitor General.
At noon, the President received representatives of PHILCOA workers and PHILCOA Chairman Eliseo Carandang and Roberto Oca, PMP president, who were accompanied to Malacañang by Secretary of Labor Blas F. Ople.
The President conferred with the workers who were on strike and convinced them to return to work.
At the same time, the President ordered that a program be drafted, aimed at scaling up the planting of high yield coconuts and the full utilization of coconut by-products.
In the afternoon, the President was back at his desk to continue working on state papers, but disengaged from it once more to receive Sen. Jose J. Roy, who presented to him on behalf of the Philippine Lawyers’ Association Volumes 3 and 4 of the book on the Philippine Constitution published by the P.L.A.
Byroade at their new Forbes Park residence where I saw the Ambassador’s big game trophies.
We give them an early dinner, then a cruise in the 777 and return tomorrow.