Sunday
[Floro] Floring Crisologo was shot dead while kneeling down to take communion at 1640 hrs. in the cathedral at Vigan, Ilocos Sur. The killers of which there were two are still unidentified. They fired at about 4 meters away. A PFC [Private First Class] Constable Pe Benito and secretary were kneeling behind Floring. But they were of no help.
The slugs recovered indicate that either a .44 Magnum or .38 or .357 Magnum were used.
But Ramon Encarnacion, former chairman of the PVTA [Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration] Board and candidate for delegate says that some people saw the two killers and they were strangers to the place. The people had seen some men from Tarlac or Cavite moving around Vigan for several days now.
I am sending Sec. Juan Ponce Enrile to Vigan to conduct an investigation.
The wounds according to Gen. [Felizardo] Tanabe whom I immediately called when apprised of the killing at Seaside, Paranaque indicate that the first shot was at the nape or above and came out at the mouth. Then the killers approached him and shot him in the heart as he lay on the floor.
There goes a friend whom I warned against injustice and repression about a year ago. For he and his men were held accountable for the burning of Barrio Ora in Bantay and for various killings in Ilocos Sur—whether justly or not.
What I fear is the retaliation that will follow. The wife, Gov. Carmeling Crisologo, is a courageous and hard woman who will now probably go after the faction of [Luis] Chavit Singson, nephew of Floring, who is of course suspected of masterminding the killing.
So I have ordered the augmentation of the troops in Ilocos Sur and the strict maintenance of peace and order.
The Comelec [Commission on Elections] has withdrawn the security of the politicians. This was partly the cause of the lack of security measures for Floring.
But Johnny is worried lest this be the beginning of the implementation of the plan to liquidate my political leaders and then me.
So I assured him that I am taking proper precautions and I have prepared an order of Martial Law which I will sign if an attempt against my life is made.
We must also look into the possibility that this is the work of the Huks. Although I personally do not believe so.
But Floring did me a favor to the last. His death somehow deflects all the hate and vilification that such men like Chino [Joaquin] Roces and [Raul] Manglapus or even Father [Pacifico] Ortiz have been able to generate against the government and its officials including perhaps me. Now people say of our ill-wishers “That is a little bit much.” There is a general revulsion to the killing.
I also remember how in the campaign of 1965 when I had told him that I had no longer any funds, he asked Pres. [Diosdado] Macapagal for P60,000 allegedly for his campaign and gave it to me.
He had his faults but he was a loyal friend. During the riots and whenever there were rumors of assassination against me, he would come to the palace.
6:15 PM October 19, 1970[1]
Monday
I have just come from the inauguration of Philec (Phil. Electric Corp.) headed by Oscar Lopez, son of Eugenio Lopez, Sr., chairmaned by Ex-Sec. Alfredo Montelibano, a factory for transformers. Travel by helicopter—5 min. It is situated at Taytay, Rizal. Mayor is Antonio Esguerra.
Many ladies have claimed the dubious honor of being my girl friends. But the most obnoxious is a Dovie Boehms [Beams], the leading lady in Maharlika, a film supposedly based on the war exploits of Lawin, alias, Ferdinand Marcos. I met her or she was introduced to me during the Famas [Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences] Festival last year. She has come back and insisted with the Press Office (Larry Cruz) and Appointments Secretary that she be allowed to see me. I refused. My instincts were right. She is a name dropper. She approached Imelda on the Tourism conference and program at Hilton where she stays and proudly announced that she knew her (Imelda’s) husband. Imelda properly ignored her. But over TV and in interviews with newspapermen, she insinuates that she has been my inamorata! And I have not even seen her on this trip of her. The only time I saw her was during the casual introduction last year. How the media can indeed swallow a story that appeals to the morbid curiosity of men!!
This afternoon, the Daily Mirror included a statement of the widow, Gov. Carmeling Crisologo, hoping that the campaign of hate and vilification by Chino [Joaquin] Roces, the Jesuits and students would stop as it was they who killed Cong. [Floro] Crisologo.
Up to now the assailants of Floring Crisologo have not been identified.
Directed Sec. Cesar Virata and Ting [Vicente] Paterno to finish the plans for the IISMI [Iligan Integrated Steel Mills Inc.] which we are supposed to submit to the Ex-Imp [Export-Import] Bank otherwise the bank would call on our guaranty for the IISMI. This may mean that the IISMI may be taken over by the government.
Met the Manpower Council. I have just appointed Rony Diaz as Director General. And I want the training upgraded (the modules of the Philippines is being adopted by the ILO [International Labor Organization]). And the survey of industrial requirements finished soon so we can determine our objectives.
Conferred with Sen. [Wenceslao] Lagumbay and Mayor [Benjamin] Real, the head of the mayors in the second district of Laguna on Laguna problems.
Then the mayors of the 1st District of Tarlac where Sen. Jose Roy wants [Mercedes Cojuangco] Ditas Teodoro to withdraw in favor of his son, Rony.
And finally with PVTA [Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration] manager, Atty. Moreno and Moon Park of PHIL-ASIA on the program for the Virginia tobacco industry.
PHILEC inauguration and meeting with Ralph Nubla on cigarette manufacturing and the PVTA.
11:00 PM October 20, 1970[2]
Tuesday
Imelda and I went to Vigan, Ilocos Sur to pay our last farewell and visit [Floro] Floring Crisologo at his house where the widow and her children mourn.
The sky was a little murky and the air and sky was a little turbulent. There was lightning in the air when we returned to Manila at about 1:00 o’clock PM. Our radio was not working on the last 25 minutes. So Imelda was a little nervous waiting for me at the Nichols Air Base. She had taken the Soriano King Air which is much faster (225 knots an hour while the PNB [Philippine National Bank] King Air in which I rode was flying at about 205 knots an hour) and so was ahead of me.
The atmosphere in Vigan is still tense. For everybody seems to know who masterminded the killing but there is no evidence so far. There are two promising leads but I am not happy about the way the investigation is going. Yesterday the PC [Philippine Constabulary] checkpoints allowed three weapons carriers loaded with men in uniform and civilians all armed and belonging to the Chavit [Luis] Singson faction to pass through to the north bound for Ilocos Norte. I have no doubt that if the murderers were with them, they have escaped through the Laoag Airfield.
The two leads are the priest celebrating mass recognizing one of the policemen of Vigan as one of the triggermen. The second is a conversation overheard in Baguio as to when the ambush of Governor [Carmeling] Crisologo would take place. The answer was given that it was not the governor who was going to be killed but the congressman. And the persons engaged in the conversation have been identified. As I write this, the suspects are probably being interrogated.
Cong. Roque Ablan, Jr. claims that Sen. [Benigno] Aquino [Jr.] told him that Chino [Joaquin] Roces had asked for some security men and guns. Chino Roces had issued an answer to the charge of Gov. Carmeling Crisologo that while they did not pull the triggers of the guns that killed Floring Crisologo, he (Floring) was actually killed by Chino Roces, the Jesuits and student activists who had mounted a hate campaign against him blaming him and his followers for the crimes committed in Ilocos Sur when no opposition or Liberal leader had ever been ambushed or sought to be assassinated while she and Floring were the objects of repeated attempts.
The truth is I will miss Floring. He was one of the more pleasant leaders we had. And his personal habits and attitudes were not abrasive.
And the Kabataang Makabayan have openly jeered at the government with its statements that the death of Floring Crisologo is a warning to all the men in authority who have run government. They are celebrating.
I understand that when Floring died, the students at Barrio Ora, Bantay, Ilocos Sur went around shouting, “Crisologo is dead. Now the revolution starts.”
Ghouls feeding on carrion!
Lt. Col. Lamayo, CO of the 51st PC Bn. [Battalion] was killed at about 1500 hours at the U.S. radio station, about 5 kilometers towards Camp O’Donnell from the junction of the National Highway by a guard of the Radio Station who probably was an HMB [Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan]. He was without security and was careless.
He was a good officer and is a loss to the Armed Forces.
I ordered the relief of Col. Poblete as the CO of Task Force Aguila in Vigan by Col. Tomas Diaz, Zone Z-2.
The investigation of the Crisologo murder will be conducted by the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation]. But the Armed Forces will give support. All the evidence they obtain will go to the NBI for coordination.
And all persons carrying firearms whether in uniform or in civilian clothes will be asked to present their ID’s and documentation to carry firearms. Soldiers on duty who do not perform this task will be court martialed.
But all persons belonging to any faction in the province will be protected.
And the killers should be taken dead or alive. But preferably alive, so that we may also get the mastermind which is a more important task.
The body will be brought to Manila by plane for the Congressional necrological services on Thursday then brought back to Vigan for interment.
Played golf with Bobby [Roberto Benedicto] and Neling [Nieto] from 5 to 7:00 PM. Then met with the Mercedez Benz people headed by Anthony Lee and the Far East Director.
Conferred with the sugar planters headed by Charlie Ledesma on the 2% tax on producers and millers which the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] is trying to collect five years retroactively. I have ordered further study.
Then met the CAB [Civil Aeronautics Board] on the PAN-AM telegram to me that they cannot send their 747’s because the 2-2 flights do not warrant it. I have directed that they be temporarily allowed to fly but limited to present passenger capacity of about 1,200 weekly. But they must file a motion for reconsideration.
Worked out with Sec. Cesar Virata our financing problems.
Do we borrow abroad some more dollars long term at even 12% interest for lending to viable and dollar-earning industries? A study of present industries openings must be made.
Steel—how many blast furnaces can be set up. If so by whom—a consortium.
The tax measures to be submitted next year. They have to be more revolutionary—income distribution.
What is the cost of a welfare state—free medical services? Free education up to high school? Free housing? Free what else?
What compromise can we adopt? What will it cost? What taxes can be increased?
10:30 PM October 21, 1970[3]
Wednesday
Just came in from the 5th Anniversary of Let’s Talk Business. I spoke of the economic situation now and what to expect in the coming years.
After golf met with Greg[orio] Licaros on borrowing abroad. We must now seriously go after loans for our industries specially the export-oriented ones.
Then conferred with the congressmen and governors. Lunch with Ilocos Norte 1st District leaders. [Antonio] Tony Raquiza is a sure winner. Settled the quarrel with his Piddig mayor and with Cong. Roque Ablan.
The Ilocos Norte leaders feel that the province has not been given due attention by me. The national highway from Ilocos Sur to Batac is badly rutted. The National Power Corp. extension lines from Ambuklao Hydroelectric plant have been stopped at Vigan because the posts and line would pass by the Girl Scouts compound. There is no other source of income except agriculture (rice and Virginia tobacco). Mining and fishing are ______.
Gov. [Jose] Evangelista wants an appointment to a national office like the chairmanship of the Public Service Commission. But he is known as a politician and not a legal practitioner although he did top the bar exams on the subject of commercial law and political law.
I could not help Sec. Raquiza when he was under attack for the Public Works equipment purchase and borrowings. I practically forced him to resign as Sec. of Public Works and Communications.
Since then (1968) he has been floating around and he is well nigh penniless.
He has come to me repeatedly voicing his humiliation in the hands of his replacement as congressman, Roque Ablan and the latter’s leaders. In tears he has recounted how he has lost both position and prestige.
So I have asked the mayors to support him and give him a prestige vote.
But the Ablans have really become rather arrogant and overbearing, according to the people.
[1] Official Gazette, October 19, 1970: The President conferred with various officials, received others who came for consultations, and fulfilled a speaking engagement in Tanay , Rizal, where the PHILEC plant, a landmark in local electrical industry, was inaugurated. In between all these activities, he worked on state papers. About 10 a.m., the President left his desk work to confer with Rep. Eduardo Cojuangco and a group of mayors of Tarlac to discuss development and other economic concerns to the province. Sitting in on the meeting were Board of Industry Chairman Vicente Paterno and Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata . Later, towards noon, the President had a brief meeting with Senator Wenceslao R. Lagumbay who consulted him on problems of the senator’s constituency; and immediately after this, the President conferred with the National Manpower Training Council. Among those at the latter meeting were Secretary of Labor Blas F. Ople , council chairman; Peter Ferguson, expert on trade test and analysis; Pastor Quaalo , consultant on industrial training needs assessment; and Guy Loveridge, plant training apprenticeship expert of the ILO; and Rony Diaz, acting director-general of the Council. In the afternoon, at about 4 p.m., the President left Malacañang for Barrio Dolores in Tanay , where he was guest of honor at the inauguration of the PHILEC plant, a subsidiary of the Philippine Electric Corporation. In his speech, the President restated his administration’s commitment to “a vigorous electrification program” as a key factor in transforming the pace of the cities, and the countryside. “Electricity is a key element of progress,” he stressed in a speech delivered at the inauguration of the distributor-transformer plant of the Philippine Electric Corporation at Barrio Dolor es, Tanay , Rizal, where he was Guest of H onor. It is national policy, the President said, to achieve total electrification on an area coverage basis, and for this reason both Congress and the executive branch have placed power development and electrification among the priority projects of development.The program of total electrification, he pointed out, requires the coordinated efforts of both the government and the private sector. (See pp. 9830-C to 9830-H for full text of the President’s speech.) Back in Malacañang, he resumed his desk work, staying at his desk through the evening. In between conferences the President attended to other important state business. He asked government financing institutions, notably the GSIS and the SSS, to favorably consider granting loans, possibly as much as a year’s salary, to their members, who suffered reverses from the typhoon that lashed the Bicol region. He also asked the Development Bank of- the Philippines to similarly consider the suspension of the payment of amortizations on crop and other types of loans incurred by victims of the recent typhoon. The extension of loans by government financing institutions to residents in the typhoon devasted areas is aimed at enabling them to start anew with whatever was left of their homes and other property destroyed by “Typhoon Sening .” To speed-up the relief and rehabilitation operations being undertaken in the areas affected by the typhoon, the President named Major Gen. Gaudencio Tobias (ret.) as overall coordinator of the relief and rehabilitation work in the devasted areas in the Bicol region, Quezon and Marinduque. The President also sent a message of congratulations to the newly confirmed President of the United Arab Republic, Anwar el Sadat. The President’s message follows: On behalf of the people and government of the Philippines I extend sincerest congratulations and felicitations on your overwhelming victory in referendum and in your Excellency’s assumption of office as president of the United Arab Republic. I express the fervent hope that under your wise leadership the highest goals of peace and prosperity will be achieved by the Egyptian peoples. May I convey assurance of my cooperation to your Excellency in the effort to further strengthen friendly and close relations between our two peoples and governments.
[2] Official Gazette, Oc tober 20, 1970: The President along with the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos, flew to Vigan, to pay his respects to the late Rep. Floro S. Crisologo . Lifting off from Nichols Air Base at 7:55 a.m., with the First Lady taking another plane, the President had in his party Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile, Rep. Roque Ablan , Jr. and CAA Administrator Federico Ablan . He flew to Vigan in an effort to learn first-hand about the circumstances of the assassination, and to allay the anxiety of the people there by easing the tensions which grew in the wake of the murder. The President and the First Lady also wished to condole personally with the bereaved Crisologo family. Meeting the President at the airport in Vigan were Brig. Gen. Felizardo Tanabe and Major Gen. Romeo Espino, alon g with Col. Tomas Diaz and the Il ocos Sur provincial commander. After condoling with Gov. Carmeling P. Crisologo , the President conferred with officials present, which included Reps. Jose D. Aspiras , Carmelo Barbero , Eduardo Cojuangco, Joaquin Ortega; military officials, and those who came with him from Manila. After the meeting, the President issued directives aimed at speeding up the investigation of the case and strengthening the efforts to nab the killers, including the mastermind. He also issued orders on the intensification of the round-up of loose firearms in the region. The presidential party took off for Manila at about 11:45 a.m., arriving at Nichols Air Base at about 1:10 p.m. The President worked at his desk and received callers for the rest of the af ternoon. Among those who called were Secretary of Finance Cesar E. A. Virata , Carlos Ledesma, Undersecretary of Industry Troadio Quiazon , and private persons including a visiting direct or of Mercedez -Benz, the German auto firm, who paid a courtesy call. The Chief Executive, among others, directed Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Emile to ensure peace and order in the area by having law enforcement forces react swiftly to any sign of violence and to rigidly ban the carrying of firearms. The President said that all necessary measures should be taken by the government to forestall any breach of the peace in the province. Corollary to the preservation of peace and order in Cotabato, the President also directed: 1) The Undersecretary of Agriculture to immediately look into the reported land disputes involving areas cultivated by the native Tirurays with a view to resolving them; 2) the Governor of Land Authority to find a suitable reservation for the native Tirurays ; and The chief of the Complaints and Investigation Office to investigate the reported compulsory contributions being exacted from loggers, farmers, fishermen and kaingeros in Upi , Cotabato.
[3] Official Gazette, October 21, 1970: The President was kept busy by an unusual number of callers, many of them public officials, while also engaged by paper work and other state business. The brisk pace of his activities was broken in the evening when he left Malacañang for the Plaza, where he was the special guest of the TV program, “Let’s Talk Business,” on it’s anniversary. Among those who called on the President was Gen. Jesus V. Vargas, former AFP chief of staff and now retired, and for sometime now the secretary-general of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, who paid his respects shortly before departing for Bangkok, the SEATO home base. Gen. Vargas, who was accompanied by Col. Jose Reyna, arrived in Manila from Honolulu where he attended the SEATO1 Military Advisers’ meeting, held October 14 to 16. The President also rec eived a big number of congressme n, provincial governors and mayors who took up with him local problems, particularly the need for funds for relief and the reconstruction of public works projects destroyed by the series of typhoons and floods. Reps. Ramon Durano of Cebu, Ali Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte and Constantino Navarro of Surigao del Norte called on the President to inform him of the arrival of the remains of the late Rep. Floro S. Crisologo in Manila. The three congressmen said that the remains of the deceased congressman were brought by the PAF plane from Vigan to Manila. The remains will lie in state at the Crisologo home in Heroes Hill, Quezon City, and will later be transferred to Congress for the necrological services. The President’s other callers included Reps. Jose Alberto of Catanduanes , Roberto Sabido and Amando Cope of Albay, Goclofredo Tan of Quezon, Felipe Azcuna of Zamboanga del Norte, Natalio P. Castillo and Pablo Malasarte of Bohol, Tadanan Anni of Sulu, Vicente Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur, Emerito Calderon of Cebu, Teodulo Natividad of Bulacan, Jose Puyat, Jr. of Surigao del Sur, Macacuna Dimaporo of Lanao del Sur, Nicanor Yinguez of Southern Leyte and Roque Ablan , Jr. of Ilocos Norte. Governors Jose Evangelista of Ilocos Norte, Samuel F. Reyes of Isabela, Chatto of Bohol and Jose Roño of Western Leyte; and Olongapo City Mayor Amelia Gordon who was accompanied by former Gov. Manuel Barretto of Zambales. Among other actions, the President directed the Philippine National Railways to extend free transportation to travelers and cargo for two weeks in the Bicol area, in order to facilitate relief work and help typhoon victims rehabilitate themselves. The President also proclaimed two special public holidays in two separate localities. October 22 was proclaimed a special public holiday in Tagbilaran City to mark the 28th anniversary of the Battle of Ubugan in that City. October 23 was proclaimed a public holiday in Badoc , Ilocos Norte in observance of the 113th birthday of Juan Luna who was a native of that town. The Battle of Ubugan is held in great significance because it was in that barrio of Tagbilaran City 28 years ago where a band of Filipino guerrillas under Captain Francisco Salazar dealt a heavy blow t o the Japanese Imperial forces.