Remembering The Guy

Tomorrow, Aug. 31, is the 112th birthday of The Guy, the late president Ramon Magsaysay. I was just seven years old when his plane crashed in Cebu on March 16, 1957. But I still remember how the people reacted with sadness upon hearing the news.

I don’t recall our country having a president as well loved as The Guy was. Yet, he served just a little over three years, not even a full term when he died in his mid 40s, too young for such a good man to go.

One thing I remember my parents saying years after he died is that he was one really honest president. The honest politician is an oxymoron to us today.

Indeed, wasn’t it the daughter of the current President who is aspiring to be president, who once said that honesty is not a qualification for public office? So much has changed in our lives and not for the better.

Magsaysay has been denigrated in recent times supposedly for being America’s boy. If he was, the CIA certainly made a great choice.

Even before Magsaysay became president, he was already working hard to fight corruption in government. As defense secretary, he purged the ranks of our armed forces of corrupt officers.

He made the army do a lot of civic projects. My late uncle, a West Pointer who headed the engineering battalion, was busy constructing roads, bridges, and other public works projects in “Huk” infiltrated areas.

As president, The Guy set the example in his good governance crusade. He refused gifts and any special treatment for himself and his family. He prevented his relatives from taking advantage of his position. His short presidency was probably the cleanest we have ever had.

An anonymously written commemorative article was posted on Facebook to celebrate The Guy’s birthday tomorrow. I am quoting a good portion of that article because it is good reading for today’s Filipino.

Our younger ones must know it is possible to run an honest government if the president sets the example. The contemporary politician who I think comes closest to Magsaysay is the late Jesse Robredo.

The Facebook article starts by pointing out that Magsaysay has taken a strong position against the practice of sending the president expensive gifts. He vented considerable ire on those who even hinted at offering him or those close to him such perks, presents or favors.

Magsaysay believed such practices tarnished the presidency by compromising its impartiality, opening the way to influence peddling, graft, and corruption.

“In fact RM’s high regard for the office of the presidency led him to warn his relatives against even thinking they might benefit from his influence… He dissuaded his brother from practicing law because the president might be perceived as using his influence to win his brother’s cases.”

The Guy also banned all relatives from running for public office and cancelled a legitimate contract between the government and one of his uncles lest it be perceived that his uncle had won the contract through his influence.

“He further made sure his wife kept family household accounts in Malacañang strictly separate from official ones, instructing that family expenses (food, clothing, education, etc.) be charged against his personal salary and not the president’s official budget.”

He reminded his family that they were only tenants in the palace...he didn’t buy a new car, much less a private jet.

“When asked about this, Magsaysay simply answered, ‘How can I when I see the people suffering? They have no food, no medicine, no drinking water, no irrigation for their farms. How can the president allow these luxuries when the people who voted him into office are living in deprivation?’

“His wife Luz saw their stint in the palace as more martyrdom than anything else. Once, being denied by her husband permission to buy new curtains for the palace (too extravagant!), the first lady mounted a ladder and took the curtains down herself intending to have them washed. The effort landed her in the hospital with severe allergies and respiratory problems from having inhaled the dust that had accumulated on the curtains which had likely not been washed since the war!

“Magsaysay did not die a rich man. That was perhaps his greatest honor. All that was left of his paycheck when his family departed Malacañang a week after his death was P650, the average amount, his widow said, that remained from the president’s monthly salary after deducting household expenses.

“It was then that the favors he denied himself in his term of office now poured in liberally from his friends and admirers who sought to insure care for the grieving widow and children who were left homeless and without a steady means of support.

“Unlike some other presidents in recent memory, Magsaysay believed that leaders should elevate their character in order to live up to the dignity of their office rather than sully the presidency by adjusting the office to accommodate their character flaws and personal interests.

“As he declared in his credo, ‘I believe that a high and unwavering sense of morality should pervade all spheres of governmental activity... I believe that the president should set the example of a big heart, an honest mind, sound instincts, the virtue of healthy impatience, and an abiding love for the common man.’”

It is sad that today there seems to be a public preference for a so-called “authentic” leader, with common human flaws, which has effectively lowered our standards for virtue, integrity, performance, and being, in a word, presidential.

We need a president who will unite the nation, not divide it. We need a president who will lead by example the way The Guy did.

Unfortunately, our politicians today followed the example of that politician of the same era who declared: What are we in power for.

We deserve better from our leaders. We need another Magsaysay. Our society has so drastically lowered its standards so as to deny us the possibility of having another leader like The Guy.

Tomorrow we can honor The Guy and dream of possibilities if we just wake up.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter Follow me on twitter @boochanco