Wednesday
Tuesday night was an informed driver on board the 77 for Pat Killen, head of UPI [United Press International] in the Philippines who, after six years, is going to Chicago and Vic Maliwanag will now head the UPI.
Nice pleasant evening with Pilita Corrales and Amado singing. Imelda sung [sic] after our prima donna, the bel canto from La Scala, Milan, Italy sung from Lui, Turandot, Neapolitan and Madame Butterfly. She is Wilma Bernocchi.
Went to bed at 2:00 this morning.
I have reorganized the Commission on Elections and decided to call a referendum earlier than November (perhaps in July or August—before any rice crisis).
This will require my meeting with the government leaders soon.
We spent the day in Talaga Bay and coming back at about 12:00 AM [sic] to catch her plane at 3:00 PM.
In the May 28th issue of the Newsweek Mochtar Lubis, Editor and Publisher of Indonesia Raya writes of the Mindanao and Sulu fighting in the article. The alternative is frightening.
Generally balanced but he commits certain mistakes:
He writes “Some time ago, Manila came to suspect strongly that Sabah was giving the Muslim rebels in Sulu both arms and training. At one time, in fact, it looked as if Manila were [sic] ready to denounce Kuala Lumpur publicly for helping the rebels. Ultimately, however, caution prevailed in Manila—to the extent that recently Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos Romulo officially cleared Kuala Lumpur of any involvement.”
We did not suspect Sabahan and for the Muslim rebels. We had evidence of it of statements of captured rebels, infiltration agents and pictures of training camps and captured arms.
Romulo never made such a statement.
He also writes, “In this connection, it is most unfortunate that Marcos has had to resort to arming Philippine Christians in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago and has thrown them into battle alongside the Philippine Army. This inevitably increases Muslim fears of a complete Christian domination. One can only hope Marcos will see the futility of the continued use of force and will try to restore peace in the region through negotiations.”
There are no Christians in the Self-Defense Unites fighting the Muslim rebels in the Sulu Archipelago. All the volunteers are Muslims.
In Mindanao the Self-Defense Units are Muslim and Christian.
The article shows ignorance of the efforts for negotiations to end the fighting. Before we fought back, we asked to negotiate. The Muslim rebels refused. We had to fight to bring them to the negotiating table.
The article is patronizing and blissfully ignorant of the development plans for the Muslims and their provinces.
12:40 PM May 31, 1973[1]
Thursday
Sec. [Carlos] Romulo reported this morning that the Balliao drama of slashing his wrist and calling me dictator as well as demanding political asylum in the United States was an [sic] (Eugenio) Lopez-[Salvador] Araneta-[Raul] Manglapus creation to prepare the ground for their seeking political asylum too.
Sec. Romulo says he immediately flew to Washington to see Dick Usher of the Dept. of State Philippine Desk to tell him that I would consider it an unfriendly act if Balliao would be given political asylum. So State Department issued a statement denying political asylum but considering him for immigration.
Alex Exclamado, the publisher of Philippine News with 18,000 subscribers in the US is a creature controlled by Eugenio Lopez. He is up to his old tricks again.
Manglapus has been given a schedule of speeches to attack the administration. So I have agreed to Amb. Leon Ma. Guerrero to counteract him.
Imelda was given an award for the Heart Foundation and the Heart Research Center of the Philippines which may yet become the center of research in Asia—by March, Sharp and Dohme of New Jersey.
I sent the team of Ex-Vice Pres. Emmanuel Pelaez, Sen. Jose Roy and Gov. Benjamin Romualdez with an Intelligence Officer to Hongkong to meet with Minister Adam Malik and the Malaysian counterparts, [Tun Muhammad Fuad] Stephens (former Chief Minister) and [Ghazabi?] of Malaysia to prepare for a meeting between Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak and me to negotiate the conflict in the south.
They bring seven classes of documents on the Malaysian involvement in the arms and men infiltrated into Philippine territory.
The letters of Raschid Lucman to
Tun Mustapha
Tunku (Abdul Rahman)
[Muammar] Kadafi of Libya
Letters of Credit for $7.5 million for arms (for Larry Trackman)
Sworn statement of [Rustandi?], Indonesian agent for Larry Trackman and who also holds a Philippine passport under the name Alex Locsin.
Sworn statements of captured enemy personnel who confessed to being trained in Sabah and Malaysia.
Sworn statements of infiltration agents.
Sworn statement of Udtog Matalam.
Sworn statement of Udtog Matalam Jr. which includes Tun Mustapha as having paid for my assassination.
Documents and pictures on the training in Sabah (Bangnoy Island is one of them).
The Jabidah records.
The Rehab and Dev Plan for the Muslimes.
I instructed the team to demand that the situation ante-bellum be reinstated.
A system of three checkpoints, one on the Phil. Side, one in the Malaysian side and another joint.
That the anti-smuggling agreement be reinforced as reason for this.
That all flow of arms and personnel be stopped.
That all arms and personnel from Sabah be recalled.
That there be mutual inspection of our installments to determine what is provocative.
If those can be attained then we can talk of the Sabah claim.
Provided the proprietary rights of the heirs are compensated we can agree to allow the nationals of both countries to enter Sabah and Sulu freely for economic development.
If this preliminary talk succeeds then the meeting of the two heads of state for the formal agreement should then follow.
I do not trust Tun Abdul Razak who claims he does not know of the training of the Muslim rebels in Malaysia. Of course he does.
[1] Official Gazette for May 31, 1973: THE PRESIDENT has ordered the lifting of military supervision and control over four of seven utility firms which had been taken over, managed and operated by the Armed Forces after the imposition of Martial Law. In Letter of Instructions No. 84, the Chief Executive ordered Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile to withdraw military supervision over the Manila Electric Company, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, and the Philippine National Railways. This was aimed to further normalize the national situation. The President also delimited the span of control over the country’s three airlines. Henceforth, military supervision over the Philippine Airlines, the Filipinas Orient Airways and Air Manila will be primarily concerned with maintaining national security and ensuring the continued operations of these firms. THE FIRST LADY placed priority on the control of heart diseases in the country as she pledged to “pursue with resolution and sincere dedication the noble task of curbing heart disease” through the Heart Foundation of the Philippines and the Heart Research Center for Asia. Mrs. Marcos made £he pledge as she received a special citation for her unselfish effort in the promotion of interest in treatment and research concerning the many problems associated with-heart diseased The citation was given by the Merck, Sharpe and Dohme International through its vice president, Mr. James Latendresse, in appropriate ceremonies at the Malacañang Ceremonial Hall. THE PRESIDENT has proposed to the International Consultative Group of Aid to the Philippines a reorientation of its policy in order to place greater emphasis on the development of rural areas. The Chief Executive made the proposal in a message delivered for him by Finance Secretary Cesar E. A. Virata during the opening of the two-day annual meeting of the World Bank-sponsored group in Paris. The message stressed that with this new policy, the income distributive growth rate of the country would further improve as this would optimize all development inputs within a given area. In his message, the President said that the phase of reforms in the country has been accelerated. He also explained the necessity for the imposition of Martial Law last year “to solve grave problems caused by certain sectors of our society who escalated their destructive activities and mounted a rebellion against our Republic after the floods and droughts disrupted the Philippine economy.” LANDOWNERS were reassured of just compensation for their lands under the Government’s land transfer program. Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado F. Estrella reiterated the Government assurance as he appealed to landowners to give their all-out support to the land reform program. Speaking before the Civic Assembly of Women at the Philippine Women’s, University auditorium, Secretary Estrella assured landowners that under the President’s program of providing land to deserving landless tenants, the landowners will get just compensation for their lands. SECRETARY of Information Francisco S. Tatad urged campus journalist to be actively involved in community—even national—undertakings. Speaking before the National Workshop and Seminar for Advisers of Public High School Papers in Cebu City, the information secretary said that campus journalism—like the professional press—should be a potent instrument for dynamic social change. He explained that campus journalism should not be merely confined to campus goings-on. It should also involve itself with community and national undertakings. Secretary Tatad said campus journalism does not aim to inculcate the support for the New Society. Rather, it is aimed at inculcating the values and developing young minds in order to train them for living, he added. CIVIL SERVICE Commission will issue guidelines to all government appointing officials in connection with the reemployment of some 60 000 displaced government workers. CSC Commissioner Epi Rey Pangramuyen said that the Commission will enforce strict measures in the reemployment of qualified laid-off employes in order to do away with the “palakasan” system of seeking employment. Letter of Instructions No. 77 has directed the re-hiring of some 60,000 government workers who had been laid-off in the wake of the ratification of the new Constitution and the reorganization of the Government. The .CSC head stressed that those who have already retired and those who have already received gratuities from their respective agencies are no longer covered by the re-employment program. INSURANCE Commissioner Gregoria Cruz Arnaldo announced that the coat of private motor vehicle insurance will be reduced effective June 1 but compensation for third party liability cover will be increased from P10,00 to P20,00, Commissioner Arnalso explained that the revision of the premium rate on private motor vehicles was needed go that the cost of insurance may be rationalized and allocated among the insured more fairly. She added that the increase of the compensation for third party liability was in consonance with recent jurisprudence raising compensation of accident victims. The Commission also said that the improved peace and order condition since the imposition of Martial Law has reduced motor vehicle thefts, thus justifying the reduction of premium for theft cover. MEDICARE MEMBERS can also avail themselves of adequate medical services in small hospitals and clinics and must amend their habit of patronizing big and expensive hospitals. Dr. Pacifico E. Marcos chairman of the Philippine Medical Care Commission (PMCC), made this observation based on statistics that majority of Medicare members who complained against the high cost of hospitalization had been confined in big private hospitals and attended by “big-time” doctors. Dr. Marcos clarified that PMCC cannot assume all hospital expenses which will be incurred by Medicare members who will seek confinement in expensive hospitals. Medicare members must be assured that small hospitals, except.in cases where more sophisticated equipment and instruments are needed can meet the needs of most patients, he added. The PMCC chairman advised Medicare members who fully depend on their Medicare benefits to seek confinement in Medicare or service wards of government hospitals and to ask for government staff physicians.