MASS APPEAL Almost seven decades after his death, stories about the country’s seventh President continue to be told with admiration and a yearning for his brand of leadership. —Contributed photos
MANILA, Philippines — Transparency may have become one of those buzzwords that are more honored in the breach than in observance.
But for the late Ramon Magsaysay, it was an important part of his covenant with the Filipino people who made him the nation’s seventh President.
Dr. Jose Abueva, Magsaysay’s biographer and 16th president of the University of the Philippines system, wrote that, in 1953, the newly elected President knew that “every vote he got on Nov. 10 (Election Day) was a demand for the good government and the better life he had freely promised…”
READ: 66 years after death, Ramon Magsaysay still a yardstick of presidency
Describing the kind of people he needed, he said “[w]e cannot afford to have men who dissipate their energies by playing poker the whole night. Neither can we afford to have men who concern themselves primarily with discussing a problem and not with solving them,” Abueva reported in his book “Ramon Magsaysay: ‘Servant Leader’ with a Vision of Hope.”
Several of Magsaysay’s appointees were relatively young, and indicated just how much he valued transparency.
Cruz, Manahan
Jose Vicente Cruz, better known as J. V. Cruz, was a 28-year-old journalist when he was named press secretary. Cruz was the youngest to ever hold the position.
In appointing Cruz, Magsaysay said he was acknowledging the “vital importance of a fully informed press in the conduct of our national affairs,” Abueva wrote.
After all, keeping the mass media abreast of what the government was doing meant the public would also be informed.
Cruz would later serve as ambassador to Germany, Egypt, The Netherlands, Iraq and United Kingdom. He would also write a column in the Inquirer.
Another media practitioner, 38-year-old Manuel Manahan, publisher of Liberty News, Bagong Buhay and Voz de Manila and a recipient of the Legion of Honor for his work in the underground press during World War II (WWII), was named the first director of the Presidential Complaints and Action Committee (PCAC), which addressed citizens’ grievances and recommended action.
Manahan, who was a senator from 1961 to 1967, would also initiate reforms in the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, National Bureau of Investigation and other agencies.
He also played a significant role in negotiations for the surrender of Huk (short for Hukbalahap or Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon) supremo Luis Taruc.
President Ramon Magsaysay —Contributed photo
Manglapus, Castro
Raul Manglapus was appointed undersecretary of foreign affairs in 1954, a year after the presidential election, and became secretary of foreign affairs in 1957. A lawyer, soldier, statesman, newspaperman and civic leader, Manglapus was one of the leaders of the Magsaysay for President Movement (MPM) and composer of the campaign jingle, “Mambo, Mambo, Magsaysay.” He was later elected senator.
As Magsaysay became President less than a decade after WWII, many of his appointees had held high ranks in the military.
Col. Fred Ruiz Castro, then judge advocate general, was named executive secretary. The future chief justice was credited for coining Magsaysay’s famous slogan, “Those who have less in life should have more in law,” which underscored Magsaysay’s humane and populist approach, Abueva said.
San Juan, Pelaez
Col. Frisco San Juan Sr. became the second PCAC director. He initially served on Magsaysay’s personal staff when the future President was defense secretary and later headed the chief executive’s “inner cordon security element.” San Juan was later elected congressman of Rizal.
Emmanuel Pelaez became, at 38 years old, the country’s youngest senator in 1953. Although not in Magsaysay’s official family, Pelaez developed a close bond with the President and was even dubbed the “heir apparent.” Pelaez was the chief presidential ghost writer, and provided counsel especially on agriculture, land reform and countryside development.
He became Vice President to then President Diosdado Macapagal and concurrent foreign affairs secretary. Later, he was appointed the country’s top diplomat to the United States.
Estrella, Madrigal, Rodrigo
Conrado Estrella, before serving as agrarian reform secretary from 1971 to 1986 under the first Marcos presidency, was Magsaysay’s “point man” for the same portfolio.
Col. Benito Ebuen served as commanding general of the Air Force during Magsaysay’s term. A decorated fighter pilot and WWII veteran, he perished with the President in a plane crash on March 17, 1957.
The daughter of former Sen. Vicente Madrigal and Susana Paterno, Pacita Madrigal, was named social welfare administrator. She first helped the campaign as founder of the Women’s MPM, which she later converted into a civic organization.
Lawyer-broadcaster Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo covered the 1953 presidential election in an unprecedented marathon broadcast, earning him the Legion of Honor award later from Magsaysay. He served as senator from 1955 to 1967 and was imprisoned three times under martial law. After the Edsa Revolution, then President Cory Aquino appointed him to the commission that would draft the 1987 Constitution.
‘Listong bata ito!’
Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the future senator and husband of Cory, was then a young journalist who helped in the negotiations for the Huk surrender.
Magsaysay was so impressed by Ninoy that he remarked: “Listong bata ito!’’ (This is a smart kid!), according to Mila Valenzuela, the late President’s daughter.
Valeriano, Honasan, Salas
Napoleon Diestro Valeriano, who served in the US Army in the war and with the Philippine Army afterward, was a personal aide and military adviser to Magsaysay. He was credited with establishing the first highly effective counterinsurgency combat teams to fight the Huk, which was Magsaysay’s primary task when he was defense secretary.
Romeo Gillego Honasan, father of colonel and later Sen. Gregorio Honasan, was an aide-de-camp to Magsaysay. He was supposed to accompany the President on that fateful trip in March 1957 but begged off as his wife was due to give birth. He later became the country’s military attaché in Taiwan.
Worth mentioning is Rafael Salas, who organized the Student MPM for the 1953 election. Although he was too young to be in government during Magsaysay’s presidency, Salas’ zeal for serving the people would make him the first executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, now simply known as the UN Population Fund.
US military advisers
While reputed to be a man of action, Magsaysay relied on several close friends and allies to get the job done. As a guerrilla, he had the support of Col. Gyles Merrill of the US Armed Forces in the Far East and, as defense secretary tackling the complex task of bringing Filipino insurgents back to the fold, he received advice from Maj. Gen. Leland Stanford Hobbs and Maj. Edward Lansdale, chief and liaison, respectively, of the Joint US Military Assistance Group.
On Aug. 31, as the nation marked Magsaysay’s 117th birth anniversary, his brand of servant-leadership was again celebrated with the selection of outstanding Asians who carry on his legacy of serving those who have less in life.