Dear Bongbong,
I am happy that you are doing well in your new school. I know that removed from the restricting confines of the Palace and our well-meaning friends you would blossom out into an independent character and create a new personality of talent and achievement—and you would devote more of your time to developing your mind and character.
So how do you find the bathroom detail and classroom fatigue duty? Charming indeed! Keep it up. You may yet get promoted to PFC.
I understand you are accepted as a green-belter in your Judo class. Is there no law in England against false pretenses? Or is that costume you are wearing for the ball?
So I sent you a picture of the blackbelter. Paalaala na marami ka pang tubig na iinumin bago mo matapatan ang nasa larawan. (“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit” but what can you do it keeps cropping up for the mayabang.)
So you are getting homesick. Well the other day the girls arrived from school. They came to greet me and unconsciously I asked, “Where is Bongbong?” Up to now I have not gotten used to your absence.
And I notice that Irene and Imee frequent your room even if it is now clogged with all the boxes that your mother sent over as well as all the stuff that we do not need anywhere else.
So you see we are missing you a bit too.
If you have received the pictures we sent you, you must have seen the two girls and Jon Jon with me at our golf course across the river.
When we were giving the horses some sugar cubes we asked Abonazir and Urduja whether they remember you and they neighed their assent. Abonazir freed himself from his groom, galloped out to the bull ring with his tail up like a flag (as you remember very well) followed by the young filly Urduja who is incidentally turning from bay to white.
All the while the kennels were exploding with the excited barks of the dogs led by the unruly Bandido. Even Urduja (canine) was uncontrollable. Incidentally Pugger has lost all his hair in the airs and around the eyes. He looks funny.
So I guess they miss you too.
As you may have heard we got Commander Sumulong [Faustino del Mundo], the highest officer of the Moscow-oriented communist armed elements. We are after Pedro Taruc and the Mao-oriented communist group under Commander Dante [Bernabe Buscayno]. One of their roving bands (under Commander Panchito [Ernesto Miranda]) of about 30 armed men shot down 12 men including the mayor of San Marcelino and when pursued by elements of Task Force Lawin succeeded in shooting down one of our Huey helicopters ferrying our men, wounding the chief of the crew in the buttocks (of all places) and two colonels (one in the neck and the other in the ear). But they (our men) shot down six of the Huks and captured nine firearms and their headquarters and training camp.
Demonstrations and marches have resumed with a few molotov cocktails here and there.
Otherwise it has been boring here in Manila. So when Gen. [Jose] Rancudo arrived he used 4 of his F5’s and 6 F86 to rocket bomb inaccessible Huk lairs in the Zambales mountains.
We have 1700 young ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) cadets at the II Brigade Hq. in Tanay, Rizal training on guerilla warfare. And most of them are adept at combat karate. We could use you there!
I intend to teach Imee and Irene how to shoot. Then I will have somebody to scold for canting the barrel of the gun or pulling instead of squeezing the trigger. So watch out they might beat you in the target range!
The elections for delegates to the constitutional convention are pretty tame as all the propaganda is prohibited and the people in the barrios are pre-occupied with more urgent matters like Typhoon Pitang which came on my birthday and blew Casiguran, Quezon off the map among other towns. We lost more than a hundred dead but the people took it with a stout heart.
I am having all my guns cleaned and greased for storage. But I am waiting for you to come and try out the C-2 and the silencers next December. I counted no less than 20 guns that we have not tested yet. So do not forget to come home for Christmas.
Take care of yourself and take those thirds in your meals. You will need them.
And if your knee or your ankle is still swollen you should take some Varidase or Kymoral [sic] which eradicates swelling and pain. If you do not have any, ask the doctor. If he is any good, he should have some. Or the coach of any athletic team should. We can send you some if you cannot locate any. In fact I am sending you a box of Varidase. If the swelling is bad take four tablets daily for three days.
Your father,
F. E. Marcos [Signed]