MALACAÑANG
Manila
11:00 AM
April 25, 1970
I believe I should proclaim the entire Philippines as a land reform area provided that the farmers will agree not to seek or demand loans from the government for their inputs as we do not have the funds. But I still think that we must organize cooperatives And the Magalang project will be the pilot project for this kind of cooperative.
We have been able to get the senators to agree to a caucus to have me convince them that we must allow the collections from the export tax for our foreign and domestic indebtedness. We meet for breakfast at 8:30 AM Monday, April 27th.
I have appointed Francisco Rabat as chairman of PHILCOA and hope that he will have the drive to organize cooperatives for coconut producers.
Had Leo Virata and Tony Ayala for lunch. Asked them to approve the Menzi application for a pulp and paper plant as there was a letter guaranty of the produce to be bought by them.
Met with J.V. Cruz for lunch and he claims he is worried about the control of the military over government. So I explained to him that we must keep a dialogue with the military as they could be a threat if I did not dominate them morally.
I am appointing him Ambassador to Bonn, Germany as this seems to be his wish and I promised this to him during the campaign of 1969.