The other day (Nov. 24th) Enriquito Zobel came to see me to report to me that he had been invited by Mrs. Pacita Roces to a luncheon at the Lighthouse on top of the Meralco [Manila Electric Company] building. It lasted from 12:30 to 4:00 PM.
I attach the notes of my conversation with Enriquito.
Why Enriquito told me this, I do not know unless he was put on to it by Ninoy [Benigno] Aquino [Jr.] whom Enriquito quoted as saying that “he (Aquino) was willing to have Gerry [Gerardo] Roxas take the limelight and watch Marcos hit him until nothing is left of him.”
Official Gazette for November 27, 1971: PRESIDENT MARCOS, after consultations with the Foreign Policy Council at a meeting in Malacañang in the morning, authorized Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo to sign the declaration of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at Kuala Lumpur on the neutralization of Southeast Asia.
The declaration, which was signed by the five foreign ministers of ASEAN at 11:30 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur, would be ratified by the respective heads of government of the member-countries of ASEAN.
At the same time, the President created a committee that would take charge of preparations for the summit conference scheduled to be held in Manila about the middle of March 1972. Named to compose the committee were the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, as chairman, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, as secretariat, and the following as members:
Chairman Vicente Paterno of the Board of Investments, for economic matters; the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, on military matters; Senator Gerardo Roxas or his representative, the chairmen of the committees on foreign relations of both Houses of Congress or their representatives, the President of the Constitutional Convention or his representative, and all heads of the political parties or their representatives.
Present at the meeting were Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Manuel Collantes, Secretary of National Defense Efren I. Plana, Undersecretary of Commerce Eliseo Villamor, Undersecretary of Justice Estelito Mendoza, Undersecretary of Finance Alfredo Pio de Roda, PES Director-General Apolinario Orosa, Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., Assistant Executive Secretary Roberto V. Reyes, BOI Chairman Vicente Paterno, Press Secretary Francisco S. Tatad;
Senators Gerardo M. Roxas, Emmanuel Pelaez and Lorenzo M. Tañada, former Secretaries of Foreign Affairs Narciso Ramos and Felino Neri, Hans Menzi of the Manila Daily Bulletin, Sebastian Ugarte and Manuel Abad Gaerlan of the Philippines Herald; Eddie Monteclaro of the Manila Times, Emilio Aguilar Cruz of the Daily Mirror, J. Amado Araneta of the Weekly Nation, Leon O. Ty of the Examiner, Gregorio Brillantes of the The Leader, Andrew Velasco Go of the Daily Star and Neal H. Cruz of PACE Magazine.
Gen. Manuel T. Yan, AFP chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Ernesto Singson, PAF chief; Commodore Dioscoro E. Papa, PN flag-officer-in-command; Brig. Gen. Felizardo Tanabe, acting PC chief; and Brig. Gen. Teodorico Almuete, PA Second Brigade commander, acted as resource persons.
In the course of his desk work in the afternoon, the President signed the designations of six labor officials to top posts in several bureaus and offices of the Department of Labor.
Appointed were Rachel E. Fidelino, as acting chairman of the Wage Commission; Edmundo T. Cabal, as acting director of the Bureau of Labor Relations; Cleto T. Villatuya, as acting associate commissioner of the Wage Commission; Diego P. Atienza, as acting director of the Bureau of Labor Standards; Eugenio I. Sagmit, Jr., as acting associate commissioner of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission; and Angelita Alberto-Gacutan, as acting associate commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Standards.
Enriquito added that Ninoy Aquino is supposed to have said, “Marcos does not like me but he respects me for he sees in me himself in his younger days.” Presumptuous! And added that it would be easy to talk to Ninoy.
Now Alex [Alejandro] Melchor [Jr.] reports that according to Greg Perez who was also there. Roxas [Roces] hosted the luncheon at the Lighthouse and started it by telling Gerry Roxas that there may be no elections in 1973—presumably referring to the inevitability of a revolution before then.
He reports that Greg Perez recommended Chino Roces for Secretary of National Defense. Alex recommends it with the statement that this could change the attitude of the media to give us much needed popular support (which he says we need even if we were to declare martial law). He suggests we try it for six months. But we would be in a worse fix because we would not be able to remove him as the media would back him up and knowing Chino, he would be working for himself, the radicals and the Liberals so as to look fair and therefore popular. The advisers feel the same way.
Held the Foreign Policy Council meeting at about 10:15 AM delayed by the wedding of Boots Marcos Barba to Bidones [Bediones].
Talked to Sec. [Carlos] Romulo during the meeting wherein he confirmed that the Summit Meeting could amend, alter or replace the Minister’s Declaration. I asked him to so state to the other conferees.
And we organized a preparatory committee to work out our positions in the Summit Conference on March 1972.
In the Meeting I explained that since the Initial reaction of the ASEAN nations to my suggestion of a summit conference was lukewarm, the Philippines had to take a low posture and it was suggested that Thailand could prepare the papers while Malaysia could propose neutralization, so that the conference could come about.
But now we could adopt a more aggressive stance.
I place in three folders on Envelope XII-A the papers for today.