Ursula Island was a disappointment. There was rain at about 5:30 AM and there were no birds. We were all wet so we went swimming after which I went into the forest. Felt a mosquito bite me so I have insisted everybody take comaquin as a phrophylaxis [sic] against malaria although we had taken atabrine or quinine yesterday. But it is a beautiful island. And the birds were in the forest which had no thick underbrush. I am told there were some hunters there a week ago. We should shoot the hunters instead as I had proclaimed Ursula island as a bird sanctuary 1968. We must place notices in the island about this—the proclamation I mean.
Official Gazette for May 4, 1970: President Marcos asked Gov. Salvador Socrates of Palawan and Mayor Felixberto Oliveros, Jr. of Puerto Princesa to organize provincial and municipal development committees as oil exploration in the province intensifies.
During a meeting, with local officials in Puerto Princesa and at a public rally at Plaza Mendoza, the President predicted that Palawan will become one of the most prosperous, if not the most prosperous, regions in the country. The President revealed that all initial surveys point to the possibility of oil deposits in Palawan, probably because of its proximity to Borneo.
The President met with the local officials of the province to discuss such problems as the water supply, electrification, portworks, and the transfer of the Iwahig Penal Colony to Agusan.
Earlier, at Plaza Mendoza, the President took up the individual problems submitted to him by the people with local and national government officials.
The Chief Executive issued directives on the processing of teachers appointments, land classification, schoolhouses and allotments, which were among the problems raised by some 200 provincial, municipal and barrio officials of Palawan in conference with the President.
The local officials travelled on short notice to Palawan to bring before the President urgent problems.
On the proposed transfer of Iwahig, the President asked the Palawan officials to discuss the matter with the officials of Agusan so that the smooth transfer of the economy could be arranged.
The President also announced his plan to convert Puerto Princesa into a free port, so that ships from foreign countries could readily pick local products for delivery to ports abroad. He said that this port would be most convenient for vessels from such countries as Indonesia and Australia, and others in South Asia.
After conferring with local officials, the President and his party boarded the RPS 777 for the next stop on the week-long presidential inspection trip of the southern Philippines.
Enroute to Taganak Island, the President wired instructions to Chairman Gregorio- Abad of the Reparations Commission to expedite the shipment of irrigation pumps from Japan, following the court order lifting the restraints on the said equipment. There were 1,100 pump units acquired by the ISU through Reparations, earmarked for farmers in Central and Southern Luzon. However, shipment of the pumps was held due to a restraining order of the court. Through Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., the President directed Abad to ship the pumps immediately.
In a speech read for him by Vice President Fernando Lopez, the President told the opening session of the First World Medical Congress of Military Surgeons that the Philippines gives equal concern to the “building of a more humane society within the framework of democratic government,” as it does to economic development which logically should be given more importance by a developing country. The President said that the “monumental challenge” of accelerating national development and bringing about overall change has “created certain tensions” among the people.
But he stressed that despite the tensions and the excesses of certain activist groups, “none of the Filipinos who value freedom, doubt that the nation will hold together, and that it will prevail.” (Full text of the President’s speech in OG.)
I had been awakened at 4:15 AM by Imelda. We were back at the 777 by 7:30 AM and I was asleep at 8:30 AM. Woke up at 11:00 AM.
Arrived at Taganak at 5:15 PM. The mayor led us to eight young turtles and two nests. We hunted around for the eggs with the aid of an iron prod with which you can feel the eggs like rubbery obstacles. Then we saw a giant mother turtle.
We have just had a discotheque with everybody in the weirdest clothing. This was organized by the children. The last piece was 17 minutes long and anybody who sat down before the end was considered ancient, the children proclaimed. The “olds” had to keep on at it till the fatiguing end.
The sea is a little rough. The ship is pitching and yawing as we are in the Sulu Sea on the way to Sibut[u] where we hope to hunt boar before we go to General Santos and the Dole Pineapple plantation.