President Ferdinand and Mrs. Imelda Marcos gives Mrs. B a warm welcome

(Excerpted from the autobiography of MDD Pieris, Secretary to the Prime Minister)

We left at 12.50 p.m. for Manila on Philippine Airlines, a flying time of three hours and 15 minutes. We arrived in Manila at 4.45 p.m. to a most impressive reception. This was the most elaborate reception I had ever witnessed. There was a long three-service guard of honour and a twenty-one gun salute. Military jet aircraft screamed overhead flying low in formation and dipping in salute. There were perhaps a thousand children, colorfully dressed, most of them carrying Sri Lanka and Philippine flags, and others carrying attractive bouquets of flowers.

There was also, unusually, an address of welcome, by President Marcos at the airport, to which the Prime Minister responded. While all this was going on, Philippine protocol, as is customary, on such occasions, slipped a piece of paper into our hands indicating the car number each one of us had to ride, in the motorcade. The usual drill is that at a point, when the ceremonies are ending, the delegation walks across to the cars, which are lined up and get into the appropriate car denoted by the number given by protocol. Here, one is joined by an appropriate person of the host country.

The number given to me was number 3, and therefore, at the appropriate time I walked across, was saluted by a driver in smart uniform, who opened the door for me to get in. The ceremony was just over, and I had hardly settled down in the car when a breathless protocol officer came running and said there was a change and I had to join Mrs. Marcos in car No. 2. In car No. I was President Marcos and the Prime Minister. At such moments, one does not have time to dwell on surprises. One has to adjust quickly and cope. As I got out and walked towards Car No. 2, I saw Mrs. Marcos heading towards it.

We settled down in the back seat, and the motorcade started. Mrs. Imelda Marcos was at the time, amongst the other posts she held, also Governor of Metro Manila. I knew something of her plans for the city, as well as her interest in some other projects such as the Philippine Heart Centre, not only through the newspaper reports and our Ambassador’s reports which I had read, but through Mr. Alif, the Cabinet Secretary who in his other capacity as an expert on housing, human settlements and the environment had attended a UN “Habitat” conference in Manila, a few months before our visit.

He had briefed me when he got back, and particularly mentioned their encounter with Mrs. Marcos, who had taken a keen interest in the conference and talked about her interests and initiatives. I was therefore, quite well briefed to converse with her. I really did not have to do much. When I broached the subjects I knew she was interested in, she went on talking almost non-stop. I had only to ask the occasional question or seek a little clarification.

Very large crowds thronged the route of the motorcade. There were large numbers of women who had turned out to see and noisily and cheerfully wave at the World’s First woman Prime Minister. The Philippine press estimated the crowd at over 200,000. On the way to Malacanan Palace, the motorcade stopped at the National Monument, The Rizal Monument, for the Prime Minister to lay a wreath. The Filipinos obviously love ceremony, for here too there was an elaborate ceremony with a guard of honour and the playing of National Anthems.

According to the dictates of Protocol, from our side, only the Prime Minister, Ambassador Oliver Perera and I got down from our cars for participation at the ceremony. On arrival at Malacanan Palace, the Prime Minister and delegation were accommodated at the luxuriously furnished guest wing of the Palace. That evening, the President and Mrs. Marcos hosted a state Banquet in honour of the Prime Minister. We got back to our rooms at around I I p.m. dropped off a cable to Colombo and in a rare achievement, got to sleep at the relatively early hour of 12.30 a.m.

The next day, November 9, was a crowded one. We got off to an early start at 8.45 a.m. with Mrs. Marcos taking the Prime Minister and us, first to the Philippine Heart Centre; then the Asian Centre for Social Welfare; followed by visits to the Nutrition Centre and the Cultural Centre Complex at Rizal Park. There was much walking and climbing of steps. Mrs. Marcos was brimming with enthusiasm and wanted us to see so many things. Some of these facilities like the Heart Centre were first rate. The Prime Minister who had a chronic knee ailment gamely walked along, because she did not want to disappoint Mrs. Marcos.

We were all feeling the strain. Ultimately, a very tired delegation got back to the Palace for lunch around I p.m. I needed very much to put my feet up and have a short nap if possible, before the evening’s programme. But this was not to be. I was disturbed by a call from WT Jayasinghe in Colombo, and when I was once again settling down, there was a call from the General Manager Air Ceylon, from Bangkok, once more about the Air Siam Agreement.

At 6 p.m. Hon. Arturo R. Tanco, Secretary, (Minister) of Agriculture; Hon. Corado F. Estrella, Secretary of Agrarian Reform; and Hon. Jose Arono, Secretary of Local Government and Community Development, called on the Prime Minister. A film was shown about aspects of the Philippine land reform. This was followed by discussion and questions. At 7.30 p.m., the President and Mrs. Marcos came to escort the Prime Minister to a cultural show, at the cultural centre of the Philippines. After the show at 9.15 p.m. the Hon. Cesar Virata, Secretary Finance, and his wife hosted a dinner in honour of the Prime Minister at the very nice restaurant on the top of the cultural centre. The President and Mrs. Marcos also attended.

After dinner, which was supposed to be informal, the President quite unexpectedly rose and made a speech, at the end of which he proposed a toast to the Prime Minister. This was not on the programme and the Prime Minister was not prepared. But as she had demonstrated in Norway, she was by now a veteran leader, and could not be taken by surprise. She got up and made a superbly humorous speech, followed by a toast for President and Mrs. Marcos and the other important personages around the dinner table. We got back at midnight.

The Prime Minister appeared both pleased and relaxed. As we were walking towards our spacious rooms, (she had a suite), she turned to me and said “Let”s see what your room looks like”, and the next minute, walked in. Arthur Basnayake, Leelananda de Silva and Moorthy followed. We all sat in my room and chatted till 1 a.m. when the Prime Minister went off to sleep. But, as usual we had work to do, and worked on the joint communiques and the cables to Colombo till 2.30 a.m.

Official talks between the two sides commenced at 10 a.m. the next day, the 10th. The Prime Minister was assisted by Arthur Basnayake, Dr. Mackie Ratwatte; A.T. Moorthy; Leelananda de Silva; Ambassador Oliver Perera and myself. On the Philippine side, besides the President, were the Secretaries of State for Finance; Industries; Trade; Education; Agriculture; Acting Secretary of State Foreign Affairs; the Governor of the Central Bank; the Director of National Planning and others.

The discussions, which lasted a little over two hours, were cordial, frank, and centered mainly on economic issues bilateral and international. A 6.30 p.m. a reception in honour of the Prime Minister was hostel by Ambassador Oliver Perera at his official residence. Here, we met a number of Sri Lankans, besides many foreign guests.

At 8 p.m. we had to attend a dinner jointly hosted by the Acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Local Government and Community Development, at “The Manila Hotel”, reputed to be the oldest hotel in Manila, an, restored after the Japanese bombing. Here again the Prim Minister distinguished herself with a quality impromptu speech. By now, we had stopped writing any speeches for her except important official and formal ones. Back at 10 p.m. we cleared the Joint communique with the Prime Minister, and for a change got to bed relatively early.

The next day at 8.45 a.m. we boarded the Presidential ship P.S. “Ang Pangulo”. Accompanied by the President and Mrs Marcos; a number of Cabinet Ministers, and the visiting Brazilian Minister for Natural Resources and his aides, we went down Manila Bay to Corregidor, site of famous battles during World War II. A Corregidor, which was about one and a half hours sailing time from Manila we visited the war memorial; gun emplacements; tunnels and bombed out buildings. After this fascinating visit to one of the most interesting battle sites of World War 11, we were flown b helicopters to Bataan, another well-known battle site.

Thereafter, we rested at the beautiful beach front Presidential guesthouse We then re-joined the ship. Lunch was served on board. On the way back, there was a band and a female vocalist. The Brazilian Minister was persuaded to sing, which he did with grey competence. Mrs. Marcos also sang and sang well. Just befor docking in Manila, “The Sri Lanka-Philippine Cultural Agreement and the Joint Communique were signed by the Prime Minister and the President on board the ship. We were back by 4.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. the Prime Minister hosted a banquet in honour of President and Mrs. Marcos at the Sheraton Park Hotel. Here, among the guest, I met the Cardinal, with the unusual and contradictory name Cardinal Sin!

For this banquet, we did not write a formal speech for the Prime Minister. Both President Marcos and she spoke without a written text. We came back at around 11 p.m. and worked on letters of thanks, cables, and the text of some speeches for Japan. Thereafter, having quickly packed, we went to sleep at around 1.30 a.m. after a very long day.