MALACANAN PALACE
Manila
11:55 PM
April 2, 1970
Thursday
Finished golf at 10:00 PM as I had to tape an interview by MOPC with Max Soliven as a moderator and Doroy Valencia, John Nance and Emil Jurado as interrogators up to 7:30 PM. Poor Ronnie Velasco waited since 5:00 PM to play with me.
Came from Tuguegarao where I spent the whole morning. Left at 8:00 AM and arrived at the NAB at 2:15 after a one hour flight. The reception was tumultuous and the people scratched my hands in an effort to shake hands with me. Felt like the campaign all over again but of course that was the north.
I explained the need to spend the new special fund of P10 million (P3.5 m of which goes to Cagayan Valley as Ex-Sen. Ganzon had insisted in dividing the lump sum with the Visayas and Mindanao which do not produce tobacco – Ganzon had grown overbearing and erascible and so lost in the last elections) properly so we can increase our exports of native tobacco as we are converting Virginia tobacco into an export crop.
We must also put up a cigar-rolling factory in the Cagayan Valley. The Valley is rich and it has the longest cement road and the biggest number of long bridges in the Philippines.
I signed the Price Control Bill into law at 3:00 PM.
But we must pass the export tax bill so as to stabilize the currency and the prices. Joe Roy and Diokno are against it so I must confer with them tomorrow. Wonder what their game is.
Imelda is at the Cultural Center attending the presentation of the Warsaw Philharmonic and giving them a reception afterwards. She laughingly said that she will be with the leftists tonight.
I have found a place where Bongbong can go hunting. This is the hacienda of Luis Gonzales, one half of which has been bought by Cong. David Puzon. There is a lake full of ducks and to the east he can hunt deer and wild pig on a drive blind. Incidentally the Gonzales Hacienda of 3,000 hectares is near the Madrigal hacienda which are both at Luwain, Kalinga-Apayao. We pass it by helicopter on the way from Isabela to Tabuk. But Bongbong will have to watch out for malaria.
Joe Maristela says it may be difficult for him to testify against the group of Terry Adevoso. He suggests that they be handled in a more peaceful way so that they may not continue with their plan of assassination.
VPres. Lopez has just rejected my offer for him to be chairman of the Price Control Council. This seems to jibe with the boast of the plotters that they are in touch with him and the editorials of the Chronicle have given substance to my fears that the Lopezes are in on the plot to assassinate me.