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September 18, 1970 Friday

MALACAÑAN PALACE
Manila

10:10 PM

September 18, 1970
Friday

The talk of the town is still the capture of Commander Sumulong. The Liberals are sour graping as usual, Roxas and Aquino insinuating that it was a rigged-up surrender and not a capture. They just want their names in the front pages.

It turns out that he was turned in by a certain Ato, a former close-in security man whom he trusted but whom he had scolded about money.

One of the first men he wanted to talk to was Cong. Cojuangco whom he wanted to secure a lawyer for him.

Talked to Imelda at Lisbon (a 7-hour time difference) for more than an hour (1:10 PM to 2:15 PM.) She was given tea by the President and the Sec. of Foreign Affairs was giving her a reception in the afternoon.

She talked of what Bongbong had told her when she called him last from London. The pictures in his album had one of the family against the giant chandeliers of the palace and some of his classmates wanted to know if his father was a minister since we seemed to be in a cathedral. And he has already cured the sniffles of a roommate with Decolgen. Breakfast is not so bad as he gets a one-inch thick ham. For lunch and dinner the food seems substantial. But he has to clean the bathroom and classroom. And he is acquiring the technique so he can finish this in five minutes. He has avoided rugby until he learns the game but he has sported around his judo green belt. He feels some of his classmates are “stupes” and he is “doing well indeed” in his classes. So much so he is in the senior class in mathematics. But his uniform is three sizes too large and his mother left him no English currency and the school store would not accept his dollars. A second year boy sneered “These Asians” when he was with a Middle East boy in the first day and he cursed him back in Tagalog. But since then he has not consorted with the Middle East boy as the hijacking Arabs are not exactly popular. Otherwise he has made friends with all the 200 classmates.

Apparently he likes it out there although he says he will take the first plane home next December.

I am glad the school disciplines the students and makes them work cleaning bathrooms and classrooms as well as helping the monks in cleaning up the walls. Bongbong says that the teachers do not press you to study but if you do not you just flunk and have to take the subject all over again. This will instill not only self-discipline but also develop initiative.

He is turning out to be a businessman. He has sold chocolates and balisong. He will probably earn more than his two pounds allowance per month.

But he wants to travel to Scotland and Ireland. And I believe we should encourage him in this.

One of the biggest surprises of our lives is the report that the locker of Bongbong is so neatly arranged that the housemaster has referred to it as a model for the other boys. Three cheers for him!

Met some of the oil concessioners. I may have to order a rebidding of the concessions in the Sulu-Palawan area.

Asked the Jacintos and Sen. Aytona in the dinner I invited them to, to go to Washington and find out if the report is true that the Export Import Bank will not restructure the IISMI loan if they do not improve management and equity.

The Japanese suppliers are ready to help restructure their raw material loans of $72.5 million as Nanding Jacinto claims the Japanese cannot cut their credit because we are the biggest buyer of iron raw materials.

We will have to wait for the return of the Jacintos.