Ramon Magsaysay, Duterte, & BBM

Today is the 68th anniversary of the tragic death of the seventh president of the Philippines, Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, or RM, the most beloved by Filipinos, and who perished in that mysterious airplane crash in Mt. Manunggal in the mountains of Balamban, Cebu, on March 17, 1957. Who was RM, compared to BBM and PRRD?

RM, as Magsaysay was fondly called, was the first non-lawyer Philippine president after General Emilio Aguinaldo. The others were all lawyers, Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmeña Sr, Jose P. Laurel, Manuel Roxas, and Elpidio Quirino, But Magsaysay was the most idolized by the masses. He was only 49 years old when he died and he was not able to complete his four-year term. I was only seven years old when he died and I saw my mother, grandmother, and all aunties and other female relatives crying and sobbing upon hearing over the radio that the idol of the common people was gone.

He was born to a simple family in Iba, Zambales. He worked as a driver and mechanic in a large bus company in Balanga, Bataan, and married the daughter of his boss, Luz Banzon, RM became a popular guerilla leader in the Second World War and after the liberation, he ran and won as a congressman of the then lone district of Zambales. He was recruited by then President Elpidio Quirino who became president after Manuel Roxas died of a heart attack. He was appointed secretary of National Defense. RM was the only one who was able to convince Huk leader Luis Taruc to surrender and come back to mainstream society.

RM became very popular to the extent that the Nacionalista Party convinced him to contest the reelection bid of his very controversial boss, President Quirino, whose administration was beleaguered with many controversies and charges of corruption. He was the only one who did not become senator and vice president first. From congressman to Cabinet member, he was elected as the first-ever president who garnered the highest percentage of votes after Quezon. He was the first president to wear a barong when he took his oath. He opened the doors of Malacañang to all Filipinos and always went around without any security backup.

He championed social justice and agrarian reform. He gave 24 hectares of land for free to every Huk rebel family that surrendered and laid down their arms. He helped lead other Asian leaders in establishing the SEATO or the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, which was then the NATO of Asia, formally founded in Manila on September 8, 1954. It was the forerunner of ASEAN. RM was our own version of Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir of Malaysia. But we lost him too early in his life and career.

All the presidents who followed RM suffered in comparison. Succeeding as president in 1957, Carlos P. Garcia, RM's vice president, was a lawyer from Bohol. He did not have the common touch and charisma of Magsaysay. Diosdado Macapagal defeated Garcia in 1961. President DM was brilliant and honest and also came from the masses in Lubao, Pampanga, but RM was still the most beloved. Ferdinand Marcos won over Macapagal in 1965 and won again against Serging Osmeña in 1969. He proclaimed martial law and extended his presidency until he was ousted in 1986.

Not even Cory Aquino nor Fidel V. Ramos, not even Erap Estrada won the hearts of the masses as RM did. GMA was too different from her late father, and PNoy was too different from his own mom. Rodrigo Duterte has made a historic record as the first ever to be arrested by the ICC. And BBM could not hold even a small candle to the record of his late dad. No other president, from Aguinaldo to BBM, has been loved by the masses like Magsaysay was.

Today, I have a lecture in a large university in Manila on the topic which was Magsaysay's credo: He who has less in life should have more in law. Magsaysay is the champion of the common man, the defender of the poor and the true hero of the masses. Perhaps we will never have a president whose campaign jingle used to ring with truth; "Mambo, Mambo Mabuhay, our democracy will die. Kung wala si Magsaysay." Today, our democracy is dying again because of this conflict between PRRD and BBM.