Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957)
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Ramon Magsaysay
was born in Iba, Zambales, on 31st august, 1907, to Exequiel
Magsaysay, a blacksmith, and Perfecta del Fierro. The son of an artist,
Magsaysay was a school teacher in the provincial town of Iba on the island town
of Luzon. He entered the University of the Philippines in 1927. He worked as a
driver to support himself as he studied engineering. Later, he transferred to
the Institute of Commerce at Jose Rizal College (1928-1932), where he received
a baccalaureate in commerce. He then worked as an automobile mechanic and shop
superintendent and become general manager of a Manila transportation company.
Ramon Magsaysay was the third president of
Philippines. Credited with restoring peace, law, and order during the
Philippine crisis of the 1950s and the Hukbalahap rebellion, he was the first
Philippine president from the landless lower middle class – the petit bourgeois
(capitalist) stratum of society. He was best known for successfully defeating
the Communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement.
When World War
II broke out, he joined the motor pool of the 31st Infantry Division
of the Philippine army. After serving as a guerrilla leader on Luzon during
World War II, he was appointed military governor of his home province,
Zambales, when the United States recaptured the Philippines. He served two
terms (1946-50) as a Liberal Party congressman for Zambale, his first experience
in politics.
President Elpidio
Quirino appointed Magsaysay as secretary of defense to deal with the threat of
the Huks, whose leader, Luis Taruc, in February 1950 established a People’s
liberation Army and called for the overthrow of the government. Magsaysay then
carried out until 1953 one of the most successful anti-guerrilla campaigns in
modern history. Realising that the Huks could not survive without popular
support, he strove to win the trust of the peasants by offering land and tools
to those who came over to the government side and by insisting that army units
treat the people with respect. Reforming the army, he dismissed corrupt and
incompetent officers and emphasized mobility and flexibility in combat
operations against the guerrillas.
In 1950, Magsaysay attacked the Liberal Party
dominated administration for corruption and called for reforms of the
deplorable social conditions which had produced the Hukbalahap rebellion (the
rebels were peasants fighting for democratic rights, equality and justice). The
Time (November 26, 1951) reported that “when politicians kept him from
buying Quonset huts he needed as schoolhouses of Zambales, he gathered some of
his wartime guerrillas, raided a surplus dump, and made off with 140 huts.
Later he paid for them 50 centavos (25 cents) a piece, the price he figured the
profiteer who owned them had paid in the first place”.
In November 1951,
Magsaysay sought to keep the elections clean by employing his 40,000 man army
and 5,500 reserves to police the land. The opposition Nacionalista party won a
decisive victory against the ruling Liberals. In the summer of 1952, Magsaysay
was also responsible for the military solution to the protesting Moslems, who
had been victims of Christian chauvinism, land-grabbers, and government
malfeasance. Magsaysay also sent forces to fight under the United Nations
command in Korea.
By 1953 the Huks were no longer a serious
threat, but Magsaysay’s radical measures had made many enemies for him within
the government, Magsaysay revitalized the army with vast American aid; the army
had been demoralised, policies-ridden and virtually defeated by the mass
revolution underway. Within 83 days Magsaysay, discharged and demoted many erring
and inefficient men better food, quarters and pay. He was compelled to resign
on February 28, when he charged the Quirino administration with corruption and
incompetence.
Although Magsaysay
was a Liberal, the Nacionalista Party successfully backed him for the
presidency against Quirino in the 1953 election, winning the support of Carlos
P. Romulo, who had organised a third party. Magsaysay promised reform in every
segment of Philippine life, but he was frustrated in his efforts by a conservative
congress that represented the interests of the wealthy. Despite initial support
of Congress in July 1955, Magsaysay was unable to pass effective land reform
legislation; government indifference to the plight of the peasants then undid
most of his good work in gaining the support of the people against the Huks. Nevertheless,
he remained extremely popular; and had a well-deserved reputation for
incorruptibility.
In foreign policy,
Magsaysay remained a close friend and supporter of the United States and a
vocal spokesman against communism during the Cold War. He made the Philippines
a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO), which was
established in Manila on 8th September, 1954. Before the expiration
of his term as President, Magsaysay was killed in a plane crash on March 17, 1957.
He was succeeded by the Vice president.
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