Ramon Magsaysay

(1907-1957)

Biography from THE PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTS

Ramon Magsaysay, third and most popular of all Presidents of the Republic, zoomed
into the arena of Philippine politics like a meteor that rose luminously for a while, but soon
plummeted down into a fiery death. But unlike a meteor which leaves no trace of its passage
through space, Magsaysay left an indelible mark for future generations to look at toward
the ultimate uplift of the common man.

Such was the short but fruitful life of Ramon Magsaysay who was born to Exequiel
Magsaysay and Perfecta Del Fierro in Castillejos, Zambales, on August 31, 1907. There was
nothing extraordinary about him as a child, or as a student in the grades, or at the Zambales
Academy where he took his high school course. He even got failing grades as an Engineering
student at the University of the Philippines, although it is said, this was largely due to illness.
Transferring to the Jose Rizal College after one year at the State University, he pursued
Commerce in that school where he was rated as an average student.

The things began to happen. Joining the Try Tran Co. (Teodoro R. Yangco
Transportation Co.) as a mere mechanic, he rapidly rose to become branch manager of the
company. In this capacity he converted the company from a dying one to one of the biggest
and most prosperous transportation firms in the country at the outbreak of the war.
Meanwhile, he had married Luz Banzon a shy, comely lass from Bataan, a former interna at
the Instituto de Mujeres, a school for girls in Manila, by whom he had three children:
Teresita, Milagros and Raon, Jr.

When the war came, he immediately volunteered for service in the 31 st Infantry
Division Motor Pool, and when Bataan was about to fall, he and Jose Corpus, also from
Zambales, helped Lt. Col. Claude A. Thorpe in organizing the Western Luzon Guerilla Forces,
with headquarters at Mt. Pinatubo. So highly appreciated was Magysaysay’s leadership at
when his unit was recognized, it was given the name Magsaysay Guerillas.

As a further token of recognition, Magsaysay was appointed Military Governor of

Zambales on February 4, 1945. Then he ran successfully for Congress in the election of 1946
and was re-elected in 1949 with a vast majority. During his first term he headed a mission to
the U.S. which secured the passage of a bill, the Roger Bill, granting more benefits to Filipino
veterans. Except for this he made no special imprints as Member of the House of
Representatives.

Before his second term expired, he was appointed by President Quirino to his cabinet
as Secretary of National Defense on the recommendation of Speaker Eugenio Perez. He
succeeded Ruperto Kangleon, a former top guerilla leader in Leyte. When he assumed this
position on September 1, 1950 , the Huks were on a rampage, striking here and there at will,
with the army quite demoralized and the people scared but either unwilling or afraid to help
the government. As soon as he took his oath of an office, he transferred his residence to
Camp Murphy so he would be close to the army top brass night and day. With lightning
speed he paid surprise vists to regional headquarters and army outposts, removing army
deadwood or giving promotions on the spot. He was in the fighting fronts most of the time,
sharing the rigors and the perils of the enlisted men. Not only President Quirino but also the
newspapers and the radio gave him an unprecedented cooperation in these anti-Huk
campaign activities.

Risking his very life, Magsaysay spied on the secret hideouts of the officials of the
local communist Politburo, and before they knew what had happened, they were all
arrested and subsequently sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

Deprived of their nerve center which provided funds, intelligence and direction, the
different Huk regional commands became badly demoralized and helpless. Magsaysay
pressed this psychological advantage by hard work and by swiftly moving around on various
fronts, using unorthodox method which the communist could hardly counteract. In no time
the military phase of the anti-communist fight was virtually over. He had broken, so to say,
the backbone of communism in this country.

Then he turned his mind to its socio-political aspects. The government could not
defeat communism by bullets alone, he believed. It must prove to the people that
democracy is a better way of life than communism. He therefore went after those who were
giving a black eye to democracy. In the 1951 election Moises Padilla was manhandled and
killed by the men of Governor Rafael Lacson of Negros Occidental for daring to run against
one of Lacson’s men. Magsaysay personally flew to Negros and brought Moises Padilla to
Manila for autopsy. Then he had Lacson and his trigger men prosecuted. Lacoson’s
conviction to death terror to thos of his kind. Little by little to people’s faith in the
government was restored.

Magsaysay also established the EDCOR which provided lands and homes for the Huks
who surrendered voluntarily to live within the pale of the law. This had a tremendous
psychological effect upon the dissidents who thus lost their vital reason for fighting against
the government.

Meanwhile, Magsaysay was becoming a national hero, almost a legendary figure

among the masses, and throughout the free World, and hated but feared by the Communist
world. This inspired in him a legitimate ambition for the Presidency. But that ambition was in
a way being ignored by then President Quirino who himself chose to run for reelection. Soon
he fell into the political intrigues of the Nacionalista Party, as when its leaders, particularly
Laurel, Recto and Rodriguez, invited him to be candidate for President in 1953, he accepted
the offer most willingly even if by doing so he would turn ungrateful to President Quirino
who had built him up. He said he was tired of killing Huks when, for everyone he killed, the
professional politicians drove two or more into dissidence through their abuses or
misgovernment. He honestly believed that he could bring about permanent peace to the
country by being President.

The resounding victory which the people gave him was unprecedented in the history
of Philippine politics. Unprecedented, too, were the things he did as President. He went to
his inauguration in barong Tagalog, the first President ever to do so. Upon entering
Malacanang guards. He gave dignity to the basi, tinapa, and salabat by serving them to his
guests in Malacanang. He then plunged into a vast program or rural development, holding
cabinet meetings in remote barrios, thus giving the common people new-found sense of
importance and security. He converted San Luis, Pampanga the home barrio of dissident Luis
Taruc, into a model barrio. He built pre-fabricated school houses, drilled thousands of
artesian wells to do a thousand things at the same time, like a very impatient man who knew
he had a very little time to do them.

Meanwhile, as his first term neared its end. Nacionalistas and Liberals vied with one
another in indorsing his reflection, knowing that it was good political insurance to do so. But
he was never to be a candidate again for public office. Shortly after midnight of March 17,
1957, he took off at Cebu Airport for Manila with a party of cabinet members and
newspapermen on board the Presidential plane Mt.Pinatubo. He could have stayed in Cebu
for the night. Ex President Osmena had invited him to stay. But he wanted to attend to
callers the first hour the next morning, although it was Sunday. He wanted to work even
while his people slept. A few minutes later his plane crashed against a cliff on Mt. Manungal.
The President was burned beyond recognition. His mortal remains, or at least their symbolic
semblance, were brought back to Manila.

Magsaysay’s funeral is one that can never be forgotten. Millions wept. Thousands
milled at the Malacanang grounds and lined on streets to get a last glimpse of their fallen
champion. Old women tearfully called him “Anak ko” and felt it was their very son who was
being burned. On the farms, millions of peasants felt disconsolate.

Today a Magsaysay Fund gives annual awards to outstanding men of Asia in different
fields of public service. The Philippines has become the focus of attention in Asia because of
him.

Magsaysay, alive, belonged to the Philippines. Dead he belongs to the world.