Ramon Magsaysay

PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES

WRITTEN BY:
 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
LAST UPDATED: Mar 13, 2019 See Article History
Ramon Magsaysay, (born Aug. 31, 1907, Iba, Phil.—died March 17, 1957, near
Cebu), president of the Philippines (1953–57), best known for successfully
defeating the communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement.
The son of an artisan, Magsaysay was a schoolteacher in the provincial town of Iba
on the island of Luzon. Though most Philippine political leaders were of Spanish
descent, Magsaysay was of Malay stock, like most of the common people. Working his
way through José Rizal College near Manila, he obtained a commercial degree in 1933
and became general manager of a Manila transportation company. 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 Zambales, his
first experience in politics.
President Elpidio Quirino appointed Magsaysay 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 antiguerrilla
campaigns in modern history. Realizing 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. By 1953 the Huks were no longer a serious threat, but
Magsaysay’s radical measures had made many enemies for him within the government,
compelling him 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 elections, winning the support
of Carlos P. Romulo, who had organized 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 Organization, which was
established in Manila on Sept. 8, 1954. Before the expiration of his term as
president, Magsaysay was killed in an airplane crash; he was succeeded by the vice
president, Carlos P. Garcia.

Reference: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramon-Magsaysay

The early republic

Roxas, as expected, extended amnesty to all major collaborators with Japan. In the
campaign for the election of 1949 there was an attempt to raise the collaboration
issue against José Laurel, the Nacionalista presidential candidate, but it was not
effective. In the fluidity of Philippine politics, “guerrillas” and “collaborators”
were by that time to be found on both sides of all political fences.

The Philippines had gained independence in the “ashes of victory.” Intense

fighting, especially around Manila in the last days of the Japanese retreat
(February–March 1945), had nearly destroyed the capital. The economy generally was
in disarray. Rehabilitation aid was obviously needed, and President Roxas was
willing to accept some onerous conditions placed implicitly and explicitly by the
U.S. Congress. The Bell Act in the United States extended free trade with the
Philippines for 8 years, to be followed by 20 years of gradually increasing
tariffs. The United States demanded and received a 99-year lease on a number of
Philippine military and naval bases in which U.S. authorities had virtual
territorial rights. And finally, as a specific requirement for release of U.S. war-
damage payments, the Philippines had to amend its constitution to give U.S.
citizens equal rights with Filipinos in the exploitation of natural resources—the
so-called Parity Amendment.

World War II: Allied forces recaptured Manila, Philippines

World War II: Allied forces recaptured Manila, Philippines
Manila, Philippines, in the aftermath of its recapture by Allied forces in early
1945.
U.S. Navy
The changing character of Philippine–U.S. relations was a major theme in Philippine
history for the first several decades after the war. The trend was toward weakening
of the link, achieved partly by diversifying Philippine external ties and partly by
more articulate anti-American feeling. Economic nationalism, though first directed
against the local Chinese community’s dominance of retail trade, by the 1950s was
focused on the special status of American business firms.

At independence the military ties with the United States were as strong as the
economic ones. Filipino troops fought against communist forces in Korea, and
noncombatant engineers augmented U.S. forces in the Vietnam War. Crucial to U.S.
military action in Vietnam were bases in the Philippines. The Military Bases
Agreement was the greatest single cause of friction in relations between the United
States and the Philippines. Beginning in 1965, however, a series of agreements
between the two countries reduced the size and number of the U.S. bases and
shortened base leases. In 1979 formal jurisdiction over the base areas passed to
the Philippine government; and the constitution of 1987 formalized the process by
which the bases agreement could be extended beyond the expiration in 1991 of base
leases. Extension of the agreement was ultimately rejected by the Philippine
Senate, however, and U.S. forces were pulled from the Philippine bases in 1992.

The nature and effectiveness of Filipino political institutions since independence

has been a special concern of the former colonial power that helped establish them.
For Filipinos, those institutions have determined the ability or inability to
maintain domestic social order. Clumsy repression of dissent and the fraudulent
election of the country’s second president, Elpidio Quirino, in 1949 set the stage
for an intensification of the communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) Rebellion, which had
begun in 1946. The rebellion also reflected a growing sense of social injustice
among tenant farmers, especially in central Luzon. Suppression of the rebellion
five years later, however, was attributable to American military aid as well as to
the opening of the political process to greater mass participation, particularly
during the campaign of Ramon Magsaysay, a uniquely charismatic figure in Filipino
politics who was elected president in 1953. Magsaysay’s attempts at social and
economic reform failed largely because of the conservative outlook of the
legislature and the bureaucracy. When Magsaysay died in a plane crash in 1957,
leadership of the country fell to his vice president, Carlos P. Garcia. During
Garcia’s presidential term and that of his reform-minded successor, Diosdado
Macapagal (1961–65), unrest was usually channeled through the electoral process and
peaceful protest.

The Marcos and early post-Marcos era

In November 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected to the presidency. His
administration faced grave economic problems that were exacerbated by corruption,
tax evasion, and smuggling.

In 1969 Marcos became the first elected president of the Philippines to win
reelection. His campaign platform included the renegotiation of major treaties with
the United States and trade with communist countries. These promises reflected a
change in the self-concept of the country during the 1960s. The idea of the
Philippines as an Asian outpost of Christianity was increasingly supplanted by a
desire to develop an Asian cultural identity. Artists, musicians, and writers began
to look to pre-Spanish themes for inspiration. More important was the trend toward
seeking cultural identity through the national language, Pilipino. English,
however, remained the language of business, of most government documents, and of
the greater part of higher education. Demands that the government meet the social
and economic needs of its citizenry continued.

A short-lived sign that the Filipino political system was again attempting to
respond constructively to those needs was the choosing in 1970 of a widely
representative Constitutional Convention in one of the most honest and peaceful
elections in Philippine history. Large student demonstrations urged the convention
to undertake a fundamental restructuring of political power.

Marcos, who was approaching the end of his constitutionally delimited eight years
in office, had narrower goals: he pressed for the adoption of a parliamentary style
of government, which would allow him to remain in power. He feared that the new
constitution would not come into force before he lost the advantages of incumbency.
At the same time, foreign investors, predominantly American, felt increased
pressure from economic nationalists in the legislature.