MALACAÑAN PALACE
Manila
10:05 PM
February 10, 1971
Wednesday
I have started to conduct a survey of the sentiments of the congressmen on the constitutional convention. I had lunch with the representatives of the north, the Visayas and Mindanao.
I meet with the Bicol, Visayan and Mindanao leaders Monday evening at 8:00 PM and the northern congressmen on Tuesday evening.
Met Sens. Roy, Aytona, Almendras, Espina, Mamintal Tamano and Lagumbay this afternoon, then appeared on “Straight From the Shoulder” TV program of Luis Beltran.
The number of telephone questions addressed to me. There was an overwhelming number of messages congratulating me for the handling of the strike and the students. They may have been reacting to my statement that the Metrocom could have gone into the UP campus and killed all the radical students but how could we have done this if we did not exhaust all the possibilities for a non-violent solution.
There is a turn in public opinion. Many of the people are coming out openly supporting martial law. And many insist on a firmer policy.
The surprise of this is that people now openly support the proclamation of martial law when ten days ago, before the strike, nobody would be caught saying the bad word. The change in public opinion came about because of the withdrawal of the Metrocom and the police from the UP and the tyrannical abuse, profane and gutter language of the radical students.
South Vietnamese forces attacked North Vietnamese sanctuaries supported by U.S. artillery and airforce. Amb. Byroade gave me copies of the announcements. I enclose the statements.
I attach a copy of the Oct. 1970 copy of the magazine “Conflict Studies” with the article “Urban Guerillas in Latin America.”
The jeepney drivers’ strike was called off this afternoon by Atty. Lupino Lazaro.
But today, the Armory of the UP Los Baños was blown up. And the residents of Los Baños filed a petition for injunction against the radical students who set up a barricade on the national highway.
And Apollo 14 has come back from the moon and splashed down early this morning. Sheppard hit a golf ball with a No. 5 iron for 600 yards!