[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.
Official Gazette, October 18, 1970: President Marcos instructed Acting Executive Secretary Roberto V. Reyes to convene a meeting of key government officials concerned with the relief operations in the typhoon ravaged provinces and representatives of the private sector to map out a coordinated system of relief work.
The President, who visited the Bicol region with the First Lady, said that the devastation he personally witnessed was so great all sectors of the country should pitch in to help rebuild the homes and rehabilitate the livelihood of the victims.
In compliance with the President’s instructions, Secretary Reyes called to a meeting, at the national disaster coordinating center, at the Infrastructure Operations Center building at Camp Aguinaldo, the following officials: Secretary of Public Works and Communications Manuel B. Syquio, Secretary of Education Onofre D. Corpuz, Secretary of Social Welfare Gregorio Feliciano, Secretary of Health Amadeo H. Cruz, Budget Commissioner Faustino Sy-Changco, Undersecretary of Agriculture Isosceles Pascual, Acting Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Romeo Espino; Philippine National Red Cross Director Loreto Paras Sulit, General Manager Nicanor Jimenez of the Philippine National Railways, RCA General Manager Pedro Rodrigo, heads of the National Power Corporation Presidential Arm on Community Development, and the National Planning Commission; Director of Commerce Epifanio B. Castillejos, and CAA Administrator Federico Ablan, Jr. Also invited were civic and business leaders, including Messrs. Joaquin Roces and Enrique Zobel, B. Praile of AID and representatives of the Catholic relief agencies.
Upon learning of^ the death of Rep. Floro Crisologo in the afternoon in the hands of assassins, the President ordered Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos and the NBI, Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and the CIS to immediately proceed to Vigan to personally take charge of the investigation. Rep. Crisologo was the first death while attending Mass inside the Vigan Cathedral. In a statement released to the press, the President also expressed his condolence to the congressman’s family.
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.