The first case of subversion under R[epublic] A[ct] 1700 has been filed against Leoncio Co caught in Talaga, Capas, Tarlac in a raid of the military. He is the former Sec. Gen. of the Kabataaang Makabayan against whom former Huks have testified that he is one of the high ranking officers of the new Communist Party.
I have directed Sec. [Juan] Ponce Enrile and Gen. [Felizardo] Tanabe to get the witnesses against the Kabataang Makabayan leaders who are actually with the Communist Party and prepare the legal cases against them.
Official Gazette for March 9, 1970: President Marcos had a comparatively well-focused day with few visitors to divert his attention from the state matters at hand. He had only two callers in the morning; the first was C. Maxwell Stanley, well-known philanthropist, who arrived recently to receive an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from a local university and to address the Manila Rotary Club. The visitor was accompanied by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo. Later in the morning, Senator Helena Z. Benitez called along with Mrs. Belen Enrile Gutierrez, president of the Philippine Women’s University and member of the Monetary Board, to take up some official business with the President.
The President was free all afternoon to work on state papers and discuss problems with his aides and ranking officials concerned. In the evening he went out to the Hotel Intercontinental to speak as guest of honor at the opening of the 6th Asia-Pacific Food Production Conference. Expressing hope that the meeting will contribute to the world’s response to the challenge of food production, the President noted that the so-called “miracle rice ” in the development of which the Philippines has pioneered, has produced a rice glut which in turn scaled down the price of rice in the world market.
The President also urged that immediate attention be given to the production of more protein foods, pointing out that protein deficiency in Asian countries “accounts partly for the poor health of our peoples.” He said that new and modern techniques of agricultural production and management are needed in Asia, adding that in order to attain self-sufficiency in food, closer “collaborative effort, a sharing of knowledge, a continuing exchange of information” must be undertaken by Asians. Closer cooperation between governments on one hand and between governments and the private sector on the other would help meet the many challenges that agricultural development in Asia faces in the Seventies, the President asserted.
In a memorandum circular, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr. listed additional exemptions to the ban on filling vacant government posts, in connection with the fiscal restraint policy of the administration. The new exemptions as authorized in the circular with the approval of the President are:
1. Vacancies resulting from the retirement, resignation or death of the incumbent; 2. Essential positions in law enforcement agencies and postal and communication services; 3. Essential positions in newly created units undertaking vital social services or implementing projects of the Capital Development Program such as extension classes, hospitals, INDESCOR, Free Trade Zone, munitions plant and the Upper Pampanga Multipurpose Project; and 4. Private, and assistant private, secretaries of department and agency heads. Only positions in the judiciary and the prosecuting arm of the government were exempted, because they were considered essential to the peace and order drive.
Secretary Melchor, in recommending the additional exemptions, informed the President however that no appointments will be retroactive.
We will now shift to the legal phase of the struggle until the communists use violence requiring the use of my extraordinary powers.
At the same time we are now utilizing the propaganda facilities of the government. We will publish a Government Record or Report on our position on issues that are being distorted by the Manila Times and the Manila Chronicle. This weekly will be distributed to all offices and schools. Johnny [Juan] Tuvera will edit it.
We are also using TV and radio, harnessing all our friendly commentators.
I have asked O[nofre] D. Corpuz to organize a think tank of constructive thinkers in the schools on subversions, counter-subversions and liberal democracy.
The military operations in Tarlac are doing very well. Called up Gen. Tanabe to congratulate him and his boys. The nephew of Dante [Bernabe Buscayno] was killed with some others. Others were captured.
I still feel that my greatest contribution to the country will still be saving it from communism. It would be easy to adopt palliatives and delay the confrontation with this deadly peril. But this would be the easy way out. After my term and within the decade or the next, the nation would have to confront it anyway. And I would have been guilty of dereliction of duty if not cowardice for not facing up to it and rooting it out while I had the opportunity and the power.
So I am decided that I must risk even the future of my family so as to save our freedoms and individual dignity. The issue has become this simple and brutal. It is a matter of survival. It is a matter of daring or not—on my part. And I decide to dare.