Malacañang
Manila
Thursday
January 15, 1970
The newspapers headlined (specially Manila Times) the resignation of Nolan from the Sugar Quota Adm. and Sugar Institute. I have asked him to stay but today I have had to designate Jose Unson the Asst. Sugar Quota Adm. to replace him.
This may precipitate a break with the Montelibanos and the Lopezes who, I am sure, are behind it.
I hope Ex Sec. Alfredo Montelibano resigns from the RCA so I can appoint Bong Tanco.
I write this on the evening of the 16th because last night after the birthday party of Hilda Ysmael, we slept at the Veterans Memorial Hospital so that Meldy may be operated on at 6:00 AM.
Manila is talking about the sugar bloc blackmailing me into supporting Laurel for Speaker with the editorials of the Chronicle, the resignation of Nolan, the expected resignation of Montelibano and other signs.
What they do not know is that Iñing Lopez when I saw him on the 13th at the Meralco Hospital insisted on the appointment of Montelibano as Secretary of Finance on the ground that there was need for a new face in the Finance Dept. I am sure this is because Danding Romualdez has refused to be their tool. Anyway I told him that if Danding Romualdez should be changed this would be an admission of the failure of the monetary policies which I am not ready to do because I approved of them. Although the state of our balance of payments was never revealed to me until June 1969 when it was impossible to do anything as any retrenchment and curtailment of imports and government expenditure would have caused a skyrocketing of process during the political campaign. This would have been a disaster.
But as soon as my reelection was assured, I ordered all the necessary steps to be taken like the curtailment of imports and the cutting of government expenditures; all public works releases have been suspended, all casuals terminated, loans and guarantees by the government financing institutions stopped. Prices went up and I had to call the retailers, dealers and importers to maintain the old level of prices. We sent a mission to the U.S. and Europe to obtain new loans and restructure our short-term loans.
Ting Roxas bungled the mission. According to Iñing Lopez, Maurice, the President of the German National Bank, Ting Roxas panicked everybody in Germany into believing that the Philippines was in chaos. And they came to the Philippines to see for themselves. To their surprise they discover us still operating as a democracy.
Curse upon these theoretical economists!