Ramon Magsaysay

      Ramon Magsaysay was born in Iba, Zambales, on 31^st 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 31^st 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 8^th 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.