Remembering President Ramon Magsaysay Sr.

We have some good news from the Vatican… that his holiness Pope Benedict XVI has extended the term of our beloved Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who turned 75 last Feb. 6. In my TV interview with him a couple of weeks ago, he told me that whenever bishops or cardinals reach the age of 75, they are "invited" by the Vatican to send their resignation leading to retirement. In the Catholic Church, no one is forced… humility is expected of everyone. But whether the Pope would extend the term of a cardinal or bishop, this decision is only up to the Pope.

So there we are, the Cebu Archdiocese still has its archbishop in the person of Cardinal Vidal. Word from the Vatican came in the form of a letter from the Papal Nuncio, Antonio Franco, dated March 6, informing Cardinal Vidal of the extension. Last Tuesday, his eminence celebrated his 50th sacerdotal anniversary, having been a priest for 50 years of his life. His official statement upon hearing about his extension:"I hope the Lord will grant me some more years to serve the people. I am so glad the Pope has extended my service because the Cebuanos are so dear to me."

Of course, all this depends on his state of health. So far, after undergoing a few heart bypass operations and a cataract removal, I would like to believe that his eminence is in the best state of health for a man of his age. Cebuanos thank Pope Benedict XVI for extending the term of our beloved Cardinal Vidal and we also thank Cardinal Vidal for being a Good Shepherd to us. God has shown his love for us, through his Shepherd, Cardinal Vidal.

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Today is the 49th death anniversary of President Ramon Magsaysay Sr. whose presidential plane, Mt. Pinatubo, crashed on the peak of Mt. Manunggal in Balamban town. When the plane of President Magsaysay crashed, I could never forget how the news affected my late father, Atty. Jesus S. Avila, as he was one of the closest friends of President Magsaysay in Cebu. Even today, I still don’t know how my Dad became close to him, but I still have several photos where President Magsaysay has his arms around my Dad in a group picture.

This tragedy is as far back as I can remember my childhood because I was but a small six-year-old boy when my father rounded my two elder brothers and were rushed to the Lahug Airport (that’s the Waterfront Hotel today) where I saw for the first time, a UH-19 A Rescue "Chickasaw" helicopter bearing the remains of the President in a black body bag. Later, his coffin, draped with the Philippine flag, was placed in the chapel of Camp Lapu-Lapu, after which, it was flown to Manila for a state funeral.

Today, people who lived through his presidency still remember how popular President Magsaysay was. He was able to suppress the Huk rebellion when he was Defense Secretary to President Elpidio Quirino, and in his own presidency, what was left of the Huks were nothing but bandits and robbers. But as fate would have it, President Magsaysay had to live through immortality, dying with his boots on and living in the hearts of the Filipino people.

If the main problems of the Filipino nation today, like the communist insurgency, seem to come back like ghosts of the past, perhaps it is because we miserably failed to remember how President Magsaysay was able to stop the Huks in his day… with his four "F’s" — "Find ‘em, Fool ‘em, Fight ‘em and Finish ‘em… then offer them the hand of peace." President Magsaysay’s method is still very relevant today as it was relevant to the communists of his day. But why we can’t use this method escapes me.

Unfortunately, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its blood-thirsty armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), are the ones that apparently use the Magsaysay theory in fighting the Philippine government, where most of the time, we’ve been fooled by the lies of the communists and its evil twin, the National Democratic Front (NDF), which have maintained a lot of friends in the media and even the clergy! Worse of all, many of them are now congressmen, thanks to that stupidity called the party-list system.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw for the first time on the government TV networks, RPN-9 and IBC-13, the government’s anti-communist propaganda. But like the communists themselves, the government also believes that Tagalog is the only spoken language of the Philippines. I told Defense Secretary Avelino "Nonong" Cruz that those video materials should be translated not only into English… but also into the different spoken languages of this culturally diverse nation. That should do the trick!

Today, the biggest war being waged by the CPP/NPA is their war against Globe Telecom, where to date, the NPAs have already destroyed or silenced some 30 cell sites throughout the country. Frankly speaking, I don’t know when the ideological war waged by the communists shifted to a private telecommunications company like Globe Telecom. But just like in the waning days of the Hukbalahap insurgency, they also turned to banditry and robbery. The NPA and the NDF have a new term for this… "revolutionary taxes," which in truth is nothing but extortion!

But the enigma in this case is that only Globe Telecom cell sites have been bombed or fired at, yet most of the cell sites of telecommunications companies seem to flock together, perhaps because certain areas are well-suited for better propagation of signals. But then, how come the NPAs do not attack the other cell sites? Why is it that they are only attacking the cell sites of Globe Telecom? The only plausible answer is… the other telecom companies must have paid "revolutionary taxes" to the NPA, hence their cell sites are literally under the "protection" of the NPA.

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A couple of weeks ago, a close friend of mind told me about the kidnapping of a Cebuano Chinese businessman, but I was requested not to write about this yet as negotiations for his release were still ongoing. My friend told me that even the police in Region 7 were not aware of this kidnapping.

Well, just a few days ago, all this became public… that indeed, there was a Cebuano Chinese businessman who was kidnapped and had been returned safely to his family. Another Chinese businessman was also kidnapped in Cebu, but he is from Manila. But we still have no names of these kidnap victims. What is clear to me is that all of a sudden Cebu (despite the ongoing vigilante killings) has finally become vulnerable to kidnappings, Manila style, unlike in the past when kidnappings were practically unheard of!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.