Met Gov. Patricio Dumlao and Atty. Epicio Acosta both of Nueva Vizcaya the latter still manager of PTA, both alleged to be supporting Liberal candidates for the Constitutional Convention, Calderon and Europa. They both denied this.
Nueva Vizcaya was also badly hit by Typhoon Pitang on my birthday, Sept. 11, 1970. But we cannot release funds to repair the damaged schools, roads and irrigation systems and dams. No funds and the Constitutional Convention Law prohibits it.
30 days before and 30 days after the elections, the members of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] including Home Defense, Barrio Self-Defense Units and the Constabulary unless I authorize them to operate. So I have asked the Secretary of National Defense to list the units that should be allowed to operate.
I can see what may happen in the convention now. The pro-administration delegates will be in the majority. The proposals of the leftists may be discarded. This will start a rash of riots. And we would have to use the troops to back the police. It is my hope that I do not need to use my extraordinary powers or threaten to do so.
The governors and mayors league came to see me headed by the Acting Chairman, Mayor Elias Lopez of Davao. They asked to help the administration. I set two jobs for them immediately—1. The legislative program (they were to see the legislative leaders this afternoon); 2. Gov. Isidro Rodriguez who is sulking because he lost the chairmanship of the league to Gov. Tito Primicias. (They were to see him tonight).
Then I sounded them out on cutting the powers of debate in the Senate. They were amenable.
Official Gazette for October 5, 1970: President Marcos submitted to the Commission on Appointments the names of four nominees to various posts in the government. Heading the list of new nominees is Jose M. Crisol, as undersecretary for home defense affairs. The other nominees are Jose B. Rongo, Jr. as city treasurer ,of La Carlota City; Sergio Y. Nazareno as municipal judge of Tagbina, Surigao del Sur; and Milagros C. Martatez as clerk of court in the Court of First Instance of Davao del Norte, with official station at Tagum. The President also designated Demetrio T. Wendam as acting assistant director of patents, Department of Commerce and Industry.
The President spent most of his working hours in his study, going over reports from various departments of the government, and attended to other matters of state, including the awarding of lots in Sapang Palay. The President asked the Board of Directors of the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation to meet immediately to discuss pricing of lots in the Sapang Palay resettlement site.
Through Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, Jr., the President authorized a representative of the Sapang Palay residents to attend the board meeting, to inform the board of the residents’ views on lot pricing. Some residents of Sapang Palay headed by Bernardo Dimalanta were received at Malacañang by Secretary Melchor and Secretary of Public Works and Communications Manuel B. Syquio.
All the bills have bogged down in the Senate. The leadership is weak and allow endless debate which is often repetitious, pointless and aimed at the gallery more than the betterment of legislation.
Perhaps it is time to adopt the English version of the limitation of the powers of the Upper Chamber by providing in the Constitution that legislation approved by the House of Representatives if not acted upon within thirty days after receipt by the Senate shall automatically go back to the House and should the House repass it, it shall go to the President for signature.
All persons who are heads of families and have a source of livelihood or job should be entitled to housing provided for by the state but should contribute at least five percent of his net income to a special fund for housing.
There should be free and compulsory elementary education. High school education should be free but competitive. All those who do not pass the exams can take vocational or agricultural courses. The same thing should be provided for university education. A special fund should be created.
There should be compulsory voting. Failure should be punishable with imprisonment and not merely a fine.
Posse comitatus should be authorized.
Principal exports (first ten) should be exported by a government corporation the income of which should be set aside for manpower training, education, housing and social welfare.
I have ordered the indexing of the government files specially of the Executive Office preparatory to writing the history of Marcos I.
And we will include a study of the protest and reform movement, its causes, leadership and the chronology of events. We should also discuss the defusing of the revolutionary situation by the government.
I have just read a Republic Magazine article of Justice Fred Ruiz Castro who concludes that the malaise in our society is caused by the lack of social conscience of political leadership.
He is both a hypocrite and an ineffective speculator. For all he knows is what he reads in the newspapers which, of course, given the status of journalism in this country is
Posse Comitatus is a U.S. Federal Law that limits the powers of the Federal Government in using Federal Military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the U.S. It was later passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill later updated in 1956 and 1981.
a completely false picture of the Philippines. He has no contact with the people except the cynics of his circle.
And he himself, while presiding justice of the Court of Appeals, sought to push some contract with government in which he had a pecuniary interest.
But this is indicative of the default of the alleged intellectuals. They follow the path of least resistance and blame the leaders for everything.