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MANUEL ROXAS

Manuel Acuña Roxas ([ˈɾohas]; born Manuel Róxas y Acuña; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948)

was the fifth President of the Philippines who served from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly served

as the third and last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May 28, 1946 to July 4,

1946, subsequently becoming the first President of the independent Third Philippine Republic after the

United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines.

His son, Gerardo ("Gerry"), became a member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a

leader of Liberal Party of the Philippines. Gerry's sons, Manuel II ("Mar") and Gerardo, Jr. ("Dinggoy"),

served as representatives from Capiz. In 2004, Mar became a Senator and was also elected president of

the Liberal Party. His daughter-in-law, Judy Araneta (widow of Gerry), continues to be a prominent and

driving force of the Liberal Party.

Roxas occupied more important positions in the Philippine government than any other Filipino

had ever held before him.[citation needed] Starting in 1917 he was a member of the municipal council

of Capiz. He became the youngest governor of his province and served in this capacity from 1919 to

1922.
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He was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1922, and for twelve consecutive

years was Speaker of the House. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention from 1934 to 1935,

Secretary of Finance, Chairman of the National Economic Council, Chairman of the National

Development Company and many other government corporations and agencies, Brigadier General in the

USAFFE, recognized guerilla leader and military leader of the Philippine Commonwealth Army.

After the amendments to the 1935 Philippine Constitution were approved in 1941, he was elected

(1941) to the Philippine Senate, but was unable to serve until 1945 because of the outbreak of World

War II.

Having enrolled prior to World War II as an officer in the reserves, he was made liaison officer

between the Commonwealth government and the United States Army Forces in the Far East

headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur. He accompanied President Quezon to Corregidor where he

supervised the destruction of Philippine currency to prevent its capture by the Japanese. When Quezon

left Corregidor, Roxas went to Mindanao to direct the resistance there. It was prior to Quezon's

departure that he was made Executive Secretary and designated as successor to the presidency in case

Quezon or Vice-President Sergio Osmeña were captured or killed.

Roxas was captured in 1942 by the Japanese invasion forces. He became chief advisor to José P.

Laurel, but secretly sympathetic to the guerrilla movement, he passed information via Ramona (Mona)

Snyder to Edwin Ramsey. He was returned by the military service of the Philippine Commonwealth

Army joining the troops and military officers of men was beginning the liberation against the Japanese

forces.

When the Congress of the Philippines was convened in 1945, the legislators elected in 1941

chose Roxas as Senate President.

Prior to the Philippine national elections of 1946, at the height of the last Commonwealth

elections, Senate President Roxas and his friends left from the Nacionalista Party and formed the Liberal
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Party. Roxas became their candidate for President and Elpidio Quirino for Vice-President. The

Nacionalistas, on the other hand, had Osmeña for President and Senator Eulogio Rodriguez for Vice-

President. Roxas had the staunch support of General MacArthur. Osmeña refused to campaign, saying

that the Filipino people knew his reputation. On April 23, 1946, Roxas won 54 percent of the vote, and

the Liberal Party won a majority in the legislature.

Roxas served as the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in a brief period, from May 28,

1946 to July 4, 1946 during which time Roxas helped prepare the groundwork for an independent

Philippines.

On May 8, 1946, prior to his inauguration, President-elect Roxas, accompanied by US High

Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, left for the United States.

On May 28, 1946, Roxas was inaugurated as the last President of the Commonwealth of the

Philippines. The inaugural ceremonies were held in the ruins of the Legislative Building (now part of the

National Museum of the Philippines) and were witnessed by about 200,000 people. In his address, he

outlined the main policies of his administration, mainly: closer ties with the United States; adherence to

the newly created United Nations; national reconstruction; relief for the masses; social justice for the

working class; the maintenance of peace and order; the preservation of individual rights and liberties of

the citizenry; and honesty and efficiency of government.

On June 3, 1946, Roxas appeared for the first time before a joint session of Congress to deliver

his first State of the Nation Address. Among other things, he told the members of the Congress the

grave problems and difficulties the Philippines face and reported on his special trip to the United States

to discuss the approval for independence.

On June 21, he reappeared in front of another joint session of the Congress and urged the

acceptance of two laws passed by the Congress of the United States on April 30, 1946—the Tydings–
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McDuffie Act, of Philippine Rehabilitation Act, and the Bell Trade Act or Philippine Trade Act. Both

recommendations were accepted by the Congress.

Manuel Roxas' term as the President of the Commonwealth ended on the morning of July 4, 1946, when

the Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated and independence from the United States

proclaimed. The occasion, attended by some 300,000 people, was marked by the simultaneous lowering

of the Stars and Stripes and raising of the National Flag, a 21-gun salute, and the pealing of church bells.

Roxas then swore the Oath of Office as the first President of the new Republic.

The inaugural ceremonies took place at Luneta Park in the City of Manila. On the Grandstand

alone were around 3,000 dignitaries and guests, consisting of President Roxas, Vice-President Quirino,

their respective parties and the Cabinet; the last High Commissioner to the Philippines and first

Ambassador to the Philippines Paul McNutt; General Douglas MacArthur (coming from Tokyo); United

States Postmaster General Robert E. Hannegan; a delegation from the United States Congress led by

Maryland Senator Millard Tydings (author of the Tydings–McDuffie Act) and Missouri Representative C.

Jasper Bell (author of the Bell Trade Act); and former Civil Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison.

No sooner had the fanfare of the independence festivities ended that the government and the people

quickly put all hands to work in the tasks of rescuing the country from its dire economic straits. Reputed

to be the most bombed and destroyed country in the world, the Philippines was in a sorry mess. Only

Stalingrad and Warsaw, for instance, could compare with Manila in point of destruction. All over the

country more than a million people were unaccounted for. The war casualties as such could very well

reach the two million mark. Conservative estimates had it that the Philippines had lost about two thirds

of her material wealth.

The country was facing near bankruptcy. There was no national economy, no export trade.

Indeed, production for exports had not been restored. On the other hand, imports were to reach the

amount of three million dollars. There was need of immediate aid from the United Nations Relief and
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Rehabilitation Administration. Something along this line was obtained. Again, loans from the United

States, as well as some increase in the national revenues, were to help the new Republic.

President Roxas, with bold steps, met the situation with the same confidence he exuded in his

inaugural address, when he said: "The system of free but guided enterprise is our system". Among the

main remedies proposed was the establishment of the Philippine Rehabilitation Finance Corporation.

This entity would be responsible for the construction of twelve thousand houses and for the grant of

easy-term loans in the amount of 177,000,000 pesos. Another proposal was the creation of the Central

Bank of the Philippines to help stabilize the Philippine dollar reserves and coordinate and the nation’s

banking activities gearing them to the economic progress.

The postwar Philippines had burned cities and towns, ruined farms and factories, blasted roads

and bridges, shattered industries and commerce, and thousands of massacred victims. The war had

paralyzed the educational system, where 80% of the school buildings, their equipment, laboratories and

furniture were destroyed. Numberless books, invaluable documents and works of art, irreplaceable

historical relics and family heirlooms, hundreds of churches and temples were burned. The

reconstruction of the damaged school buildings alone cost more than Php 126,000,000,000.

The new Republic began to function on an annual deficit of over Php 200,000,000 with little

prospect of a balanced budget for some years to come. Manila and other cities then were infested with

criminal gangs which used techniques of American gangsters in some activities–bank holdups,

kidnapping and burglaries. In rural regions, especially the provinces of Central Luzon and the Southern

Tagalog regions, the Hukbalahaps and brigands terrorized towns and barrios.

Concentrating on the sugar industry, President Roxas would exert such efforts as to succeed in

increasing production from 13,000 tons at the time of the Philippine liberation to an all-high of one

million tons.
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In 1946, shortly after his induction to Presidency, Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share

Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country. However problems of land tenure continued. In

fact these became worse in certain areas.[10] Among the remedial measures enacted was Republic Act

No. 1946 likewise known as the Tenant Act which provided for a 70–30 sharing arrangements and

regulated share-tenancy contracts. It was passed to resolve the ongoing peasant unrest in Central Luzon.

President Roxas, on January 28, 1948, granted full amnesty to all so-called Philippine

collaborators, many of whom were on trial or awaiting to be tried, particularly former President José P.

Laurel (1943–1945). The Amnesty Proclamation did not apply to those "collaborators", who were

charged with the commission of common crimes, such as murder, rape, and arson. The presidential

decision did much to heal a standing wound that somehow threatened to divide the people's

sentiments. It was a much-called for measure to bring about a closer unity in the trying times when such

was most needed for the progress of the nation.

Disgusted with the crimes being committed by Hukbó ng Bayan Laban sa Hapón (Nation's Army

Against the Japanese, also called "the Huks") and possessing evidence of their subversion, Roxas issued

a proclamation outlawing the Huk movement on March 6, 1948. It had become an imperative in view of

the resurgence of Huk depredations, following the unseating of the seven Communists, led by Huk

Supremo Luis Taruc through acts of terrorism.

On August 5, 1946, the Congress of the Philippines ratified the Treaty of General Relations that

had been entered into by and between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States on July 4,

1946. Aside from withdrawing her sovereignty from the Philippines and recognizing her independence,

the Treaty reserved for the United States some bases for the mutual protection of both countries;

consented that the United States represent the Philippines in countries where the latter had not yet

established diplomatic representation; made the Philippines assume all debts and obligations of the
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former government in the Philippines; and provided for the settlement of property rights of the citizens

of both countries.

Although Roxas was successful in getting rehabilitation funds from the United States after

independence, he was forced to concede military bases (23 of which were leased for 99 years), trade

restriction for the Philippine citizens, and special privileges for U.S. property owner and investor.

On March 11, 1947, Philippine voters, agreeing with Roxas, ratified in a nationwide plebiscite

the "parity amendment" to the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines, granting United States citizens the

right to dispose of and utilize Philippine natural resources, or parity rights.

On 19 September 1946 the Republic of the Philippines notified the United Kingdom that it

wished to take over the administration of the Turtle Islands and the Mangesse Islands. Pursuant to a

supplemental international agreement, the transfer of administration became effective on 16 October

1947.

The night before the plebiscite, Roxas narrowly escaped assassination by Julio Guillen, a disgruntled

barber from Tondo, Manila, who hurled a grenade at the platform on Plaza Miranda immediately after

Roxas had addressed a rally.

His administration was marred by graft and corruption; moreover, the abuses of the provincial

military police contributed to the rise of the left-wing (Huk) movement in the countryside. His heavy-

handed attempts to crush the Huks led to widespread peasant disaffection.

The good record of Roxas administration was marred by two failures: the failure to curb graft

and corruption in the government, as evidenced by the Surplus War Property scandal, the Chinese

immigration scandal and the School supplies scandal; and the failure to check and stop the communist

Hukbalahap movement.

Roxas did not finish his full four-year term. On the morning of April 15, 1948 Roxas delivered a

speech before the United States Thirteenth Air Force. After the speech, he felt dizzy and was brought to
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the residence of Major General E.L. Eubank at Clark Field, Pampanga. He died later that night of a heart

attack. Roxas' term as President is thus the third shortest, lasting one year, ten months, and 18 days.

On April 17, 1948, two days after Roxas' death, Vice-President Elpidio Quirino took the oath of

office as President of the Philippines.

In his honour, various cities in the Philippines have been renamed after him, including Roxas,

Oriental Mindoro, the first town to be named as such; Roxas City, Capiz; President Roxas, Capiz;

President Roxas, Cotabato; and Roxas, Isabela. Dewey Boulevard in the City of Manila was renamed in

his memory, and he is currently depicted on the 100 Philippine peso bill.
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ELPIDIO QUIRINO

Elpídio Rivera Quiríno (born Elpídio Quiríno y Rivera; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956)

was a Filipino politician of ethnic Ilocano descent who served as the sixth President of the Philippines

from 1948 to 1953.

A lawyer by profession, Quiríno entered politics when he became a representative of Ilocos Sur

from 1919 to 1925. He was then elected as senator from 1925–1931. In 1934, he became a member of

the Philippine independence commission that was sent to Washington, D.C., which secured the passage

of Tydings–McDuffie Act to American Congress. In 1935, he was also elected to the convention that

drafted the 1935 constitution for the newly established Commonwealth. In the new government, he

served as secretary of the interior and finance under President Manuel Quezon's cabinet.

After World War II, Quiríno was elected vice-president in the 1946 election, consequently the

second and last for the Commonwealth and first for the third republic. After the death of the incumbent

president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he succeeded the presidency. He won the president's office under
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Liberal Party ticket, defeating Nacionalista vice president and former president José P. Laurel as well as

fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.

lpidío Quiríno was a native of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur although born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur to Don

Mariano Quebral Quirino of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur and Doña Gregoria Mendoza Rivera of Agoo, La Union.

He was baptized on November 19, 1890.

Quiríno was married to Alicia Syquía (1903-1945) on January 16, 1921. The couple had five

children: Tomas, Armando, Norma, Victoria, and Fe Angela. On February 9, 1945, his wife and three of

their children (Armando, Norma and Fe Angela) were killed by Japanese troops as they fled their home

during the Battle of Manila. His brother Antonio Quirino was the owner of Alto Broadcasting System,

which later merged with Chronicle Broadcasting Network to form the ABS-CBN Broadcasting

Corporation.

His daughter, Victoria, became the youngest hostess of Malacañang Palace, at 16 years old, when

Quiríno ascended to the presidency on April 17, 1948. She married Luis M. González in 1950, who

became Philippine ambassador to Spain from 1966-1971.

Quiríno was engaged in the private practice of law until he was elected as member of the

Philippine House of Representatives from 1919 to 1925, succeeding Alberto Reyes. In 1925 he was

succeeded as congressman by Vicente Singson Pablo.

Quiríno was elected as Senator from 1925 to 1931 representing the First Senatorial District. He

then served as Secretary of Finance and Secretary of the Interior in the Commonwealth government.

In 1934, Quiríno was a member of the Philippine Independence mission to Washington, D.C., headed by

Manuel L. Quezon, that secured the passage in the United States Congress of the Tydings–McDuffie Act.

This legislation set the date for Philippine independence by 1945. Official declaration came on July 4,

1946.
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Before the Second World War, Quiríno was re-elected to the Senate but was not able to serve

until 1945.

After the war, the Philippine Commonwealth Government was restored. The Congress was

likewise re-organized and in the Senate and Quiríno was installed was Senate President pro tempore.

Quiríno spent his early years in Aringay, La Union. He studied and graduated from his

elementary education to his native Caoayan, where he became a barrio teacher. He received

secondary education at Vigan High School, then went to Manila where he worked as junior computer

technician at the Bureau of Lands and as property clerk in the Manila police department. He graduated

from Manila High School in 1911 and also passed the civil service examination, first-grade.

Quiríno attended the University of the Philippines in Manila. In 1915, he earned his law degree

from the university's College of Law, and was admitted to the bar later that year. He was engaged into

the private practice of law. During his early years as an adult he was inducted into the Pan Xenia

Fraternity, a professional trade fraternity in the University of the Philippines, in the year 1950.

Soon after the reconstitution of the Commonwealth Government in 1945, Senators Manuel

Roxas, Quiríno and their allies called for an early national election to choose the president and vice

president of the Philippines and members of the Congress. In December 1945, the House Insular Affairs

of the United States Congress approved the joint resolution setting the election date at not later than

April 30, 1946.

Prompted by this congressional action, President Sergio Osmeña called the Philippine Congress

to a three-day special session. Congress enacted Commonwealth Act No. 725, setting the election on

April 23, 1946, and was approved by President Osmeña on January 5, 1946.

Quiríno was nominated as the running mate by newly formed Liberal Party of presidential

candidate and then-Senate President Manuel Roxas. The tandem won the election. As Vice-President,

Quiríno was later appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

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Quiríno's five years as president were marked by notable postwar reconstruction, general

economic gains and increased economic aid from the United States.

Quiríno assumed the presidency on April 17, 1948, taking his oath of office two days after the

death of Manuel Roxas. His first official act as the President was the proclamation of a state mourning

throughout the country for Roxas' death. Since Quiríno was a widower, his surviving daughter, Victoria,

would serve as the official hostess and perform the functions traditionally ascribed to the First Lady.

On July 17, 1948, the Congress approved Republic Act No. 333, amending Commonwealth Act

No. 502, declaring Quezon City the capital of the Philippines in place of Manila. Nevertheless, pending

the official transfer of the government offices to the new capital site, Manila remained to be such for all

effective purposes.

The term HukBaLaHap was a contraction of Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (in English: The

Nation's Army Against the Japanese Soldiers), members of which were commonly referred to as Huks.

With the expiration of the Amnesty deadline on August 15, 1948, the government found out

that the Huks had not lived up to the terms of the Quiríno-Taruc agreement. Indeed, after having been

seated in Congress and collecting his back pay allowance. Luis Taruc surreptitiously fled away from

Manila, even as a number of his followers had either submitted themselves to the conditions of the

Amnesty proclamation or surrendered their arms. In the face of countercharges from the Huk to the

effect that the government had not satisfied the agreed conditions, President Quirino ordered a

stepped-up campaign against dissidents, restoring once more an aggressive policy in view of the failure

of the friendly attitude previously adopted.

To bring the government closer to the people, he revived President Quezon's "fireside chats", in

which he enlightened the people on the activities of the Republic by the periodic radio broadcasts from

Malacañan Palace.
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Riding on the crest of the growing wave of resentment against the Liberal Party, a move was

next hatched to indict President Quirino himself. Led by Representative Agripino Escareal, a committee

composed of seven members of the House of Representatives prepared a five-count accusation ranging

from nepotism to gross expenditures. Speaker Eugenio Pérez appointed a committee of seven, headed

by Representative Lorenzo Sumulong to look into the charges preparatory to their filing with the Senate,

acting as an impeachment body. Solicitor General Felix Angelo Bautista entered his appearance as

defense counsel for the chief executive. Following several hearings, on April 19, 1949, after a rather

turbulent session that lasted all night, the congressional committee reached a verdict completely

exonerating the President.

Great honor was paid the Philippines when, in September 1949, the Fourth General Assembly of

the United Nations elected delegate Carlos P. Romulo as its President. The first Oriental to hold the

position, Romulo was strongly supported by the Anglo-Saxon bloc, as well as by the group of Spanish-

speaking nations, thus underscoring the hybrid nature of the Filipino people's culture and upbringing.

Incumbent President Elpidio Quirino won a full term as President of the Philippines after the

untimely death of President Manuel Roxas in 1948. His running mate, Senator Fernando López won as

Vice President. Despite factions created in the administration party, Quirino won a satisfactory vote

from the public. It was the only time in Philippine history where the duly elected president, vice

president and senators all came from the same party, the Liberal Party. The election was widely

criticized as being corrupt, with violence and fraud taking place. Opponents of Quirino were beaten or

murdered by his supporters or the police and the election continues to be seen as corrupt.

In May 1950, upon the invitation of President Qurino, through the insistent suggestion of United

Nations President Carlos P. Romulo, official representatives of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Thailand,

Indonesia, and Australia met in the city of Baguio for a regional conference sponsored by the

Philippines. China and Korea did not attend the conference because the latter did not contemplate the
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formation of a military union of the Southeast Asian nations. On the other hand, Japan, Indonesia,

China, and others were not invited because, at the time, they were not free and independent states.

Due to the request of India and Indonesia, no political questions were taken up the conference. Instead,

the delegates discussed economic and, most of all, cultural, problems confronting their respective

countries. Strangely enough however, the Baguio Conference ended with an official communiqué in

which the nations attending the same expressed their united agreement in supporting the right to self-

determination of all peoples the world over. This initial regional meet held much promise of a future

alliance of these neighboring nations for common protection and aid.

Quirino's administration faced a serious threat in the form of the communist HukBaLaHap

movement. Though the Huks originally had been an anti-Japanese guerrilla army in Luzon, communists

steadily gained control over the leadership, and when Quirino's negotiation with Huk commander Luis

Taruc broke down in 1948, Taruc openly declared himself a Communist and called for the overthrow of

the government.

Enhancing President Manuel Roxas' policy of social justice to alleviate the lot of the common

mass, President Quirino, almost immediately after assuming office, started a series of steps calculated to

effectively ameliorate the economic condition of the people. After periodic surprise visits to the slums of

Manila and other backward regions of the country, President Quirino officially made public a seven-

point program for social security, to wit:

 Unemployment insurance

 Old-age insurance

 Accident and permanent disability insurance

 Health insurance

 Maternity insurance

 State relief
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 Labor opportunity

President Quirino also created the Social Security Commission, making Social Welfare

Commissioner Asuncion Perez chairman of the same. This was followed by the creation of the

President's Action Committee on Social Amelioration, charges with extending aid, loans, and relief to the

less fortunate citizens. Both the policy and its implementation were hailed by the people as harbingers

of great benefits.

As part of his Agrarian Reform agenda, President Quirino issued on October 23, 1950 Executive

Order No. 355 which replaced the National Land Settlement Administration with Land Settlement

Development Corporation (LASEDECO) which takes over the responsibilities of the Agricultural

Machinery Equipment Corporation and the Rice and Corn Production Administration.

To cope with the insistent clamor for government improvement, President Quirino created the

Integrity Board to probe into reports of graft and corruption in high government places. Vice-President

Fernando Lopez was most instrumental, through his courageous exposés, in securing such a

decision from President Quirino.

Quirino's administration excelled in diplomacy, impressing foreign heads of states and world

statesmen by his intelligence and culture. In his official travels to the United States, European countries,

and Southeast Asia, he represented the Philippines with flying colors. During his six years of

administration, he with his Foreign Secretary Helen Cutaran Bennett was able to negotiate treaties and

agreements with other nations of the Free World. Two Asian heads of state visited Philippines–President

Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China in July 1949 and President Sukarno of Indonesia in January

1951.

In 1950, at the onset of the Korean War, Quirino authorized the deployment of over 7,450

Filipino soldiers to Korea, under the designation of the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea or

PEFTOK.
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“ While I recognise the United States as a great builder in this country, I have never

surrendered the sovereignty, much less the dignity and future of our country.

— Elpidio Quirino

In 1951, the Philippines signed the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States to deter the

threat of communism that existed during the Cold War. The military alliance remains to this day a key

pillar of American foreign policy in Asia that also includes defense pacts with Japan, South Korea,

Thailand, and Australia.

On June 25, 1950, the world was astonished to hear the North Korean aggression against the

independent South Korea. The United Nations immediately took up this challenge to the security of this

part of the world. Carlos P. Romulo soon stood out as the most effective spokesman for the South

Korean cause. On behalf of the government, Romulo offered to send a Philippine military contingent to

be under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur, who had been named United Nations

Supreme Commander for the punitive expedition. The Philippines, thus, became the first country to join

the United States in the offer of military assistance to beleaguered South Korea.

President Quirino took the necessary steps to make the Philippine offer. On a purely voluntary

basis, the first contingent – the Tenth Battalion Combat Team – was formed under Col. Azurin, and

dispatched to Korea, where its members quickly won much renown for their military skill and bravery.

The name of Captain Jose Artiaga, Jr., heroically killed in action, stands out as a symbol of our country's

contribution to the cause of freedom outside native shores. Other Philippine Combat Teams successively

replaced the first contingent sent, and they all built a name for discipline, tenacity, and courage, until

the truce that brought the conflict to a halt.

By the time of the creation of the integrity board, moreover, the Bell Mission, led by Daniel W.

Bell, an American banker, and composed of five members, with a staff of twenty workers, following their

period of stay in the Philippines, beginning in July 1950, finally submitted its report on October of the
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same year. The Report made several proposals, most noteworthy, of which were that the United States

on, President Quirino gamely and patriotically, took in the recommendations and sought to implement

them. Thus in November 1950, President Quirino and William Chapman Foster, representing the United

States Government, signed an agreement by virtue of which the former pledged to obtain the necessary

Philippine legislation, in keeping with the Bell Mission Report, while envoy Foster promised the

necessary by the same Report.

However, much as he tried to become a good president, Quirino failed to win the people's

affection. Several factors caused the unpopularity of his administration, namely:

Failure of government to check the Huk menace which made travel in the provinces unsafe, as

evidenced by the killing of former First Lady Aurora Quezon and her companions on April 28, 1949 by

the Huks on the Bongabong-Baler road, Baler, Tayabas (now part of Aurora province);

Economic distress of the times, aggravated by rising unemployment rate, soaring prices of commodities,

and unfavorable balance of trade.

The former tomb of Elpidio Quirino at the Manila South Cemetery

Following his failed bid for re-election, Quirino retired from politics to private life in 1953. He

offered his dedication to serve the Filipino people, becoming the "Father of Foreign Service" in the

Republic of the Philippines.

Quirino died of a heart attack during the leap year day of February 29, 1956 at his retirement

house in Novaliches, Quezon City. He was buried at Manila South Cemetery in Makati. On February 29,

2016, his remains were relocated and reinterred at a special tomb site in the Heroes' Cemetery in

Taguig, in time for the 60th death anniversary of his death.

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There are a number of memorials dedicated to Quirino. Quirino Avenue in Manila is named for

him, as is the LRT station located there. The Novaliches-Ipo Road where his retirement home is situated

was renamed as Quirino Highway. There is also a Quirino Grandstand in Manila's Rizal Park.

In 2016 a memorial to him was established in Hibiya Park, Tokyo, Japan.

RAMON MAGSAYSAY

Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who

served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953 until his death in an aircraft

disaster. An automobile mechanic by profession, Magsaysay was appointed military governor of

Zambales after his outstanding service as a guerilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served two

terms as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales before being appointed as Secretary of National

Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected president under the banner of the

Nacionalista Party.
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On April 22, 1946, Magsaysay, encouraged by his ex-guerrillas, was elected under the Liberal

Party to the Philippine House of Representatives. In 1948, President Manuel Roxas chose Magsaysay to

go to Washington as Chairman of the Committee on Guerrilla Affairs, to help to secure passage of the

Rogers Veterans Bill, giving benefits to Philippine veterans. In the so-called "dirty election" of 1949, he

was re-elected to a second term in the House of Representatives. During both terms he was Chairman of

the House National Defense Committee.

In early August 1950, he offered President Elpidio Quirino a plan to fight the Communist

guerillas, using his own experiences in guerrilla warfare during World War II. After some hesitation,

Quirino realized that there was no alternative and appointed Magsaysay Secretary of National Defence

on August 31, 1950. He intensified the campaign against the Hukbalahap guerillas. This success was due

in part to the unconventional methods he took up from a former advertising expert and CIA agent,

Colonel Edward Lansdale. In the counterinsurgency the two utilized deployed soldiers distributing relief

goods and other forms of aid to outlying, provincial communities. Prior to Magsaysay's appointment as

Defense Secretary, rural citizens perceived the Philippine Army with apathy and distrust. However,

Magsaysay's term enhanced the Army's image, earning them respect and admiration.

In June 1952, Magsaysay made a goodwill tour to the United States and Mexico. He visited New

York, Washington, D.C. (with a medical check-up at Walter Reed Hospital) and Mexico City where he

spoke at the Annual Convention of Lions International.

By 1953, President Quirino thought the threat of the Huks was under control and Secretary

Magsaysay was becoming too weak. Magsaysay met with interference and obstruction from the

President and his advisers, in fear they might be unseated at the next presidential election. Although

Magsaysay had at that time no intention to run, he was urged from many sides and finally was

convinced that the only way to continue his fight against communism, and for a government for the

people, was to be elected president, ousting the corrupt administration that, in his opinion, had caused
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the rise of the communist guerrillas by bad administration. He resigned his post as defense secretary on

February 28, 1953, and became the presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party, disputing the

nomination with senator Camilo Osías at the Nacionalista national convention.

He was the first Philippine president born during the 20th century and the first to be born after

the Spanish colonial era.

When news reached Magsaysay that his political ally Moises Padilla was being tortured by men

of provincial governor Rafael Lacson, he rushed to Negros Occidental, but was too late. He was then

informed that Padilla's body was swimming in blood, pierced by fourteen bullets, and was positioned on

a police bench in the town plaza. Magsaysay himself carried Padilla's corpse with his bare hands and

delivered it to the morgue, and the next day, news clips showed pictures of him doing so.[9] Magsaysay

even used this event during his presidential campaign in 1953.

The trial against Lacson started in January 1952; Magsaysay and his men presented enough

evidence to convict Lacson and his 26 men for murder. In August 1954, Judge Eduardo Enríquez ruled

the men were guilty and Lacson, his 22 men and three other mayors of Negros Occidental municipalities

were condemned to the electric chair.

Presidential elections were held on November 10, 1953 in the Philippines. Incumbent President

Elpidio Quirino lost his opportunity for a second full term as President of the Philippines to former

Defense Secretary Magsaysay. His running mate, Senator José Yulo lost to Senator Carlos P. García. Vice

President Fernando Lopez did not run for re-election. This was the first time that an elected Philippine

president did not come from the Senate. Moreover, Magsaysay started the practice in the Philippines of

"campaign jingles" during elections, for one of his inclinations and hobbies was dancing.

The United States Government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, had strong influence

on the 1953 election, and candidates in the election fiercely competed with each other for U.S. support.
 21

In the election of 1953, Magsaysay was decisively elected president over the incumbent Elpidio Quirino.

He was sworn into office wearing the Barong Tagalog, a first by a Philippine president. He was then

called "Mambo Magsaysay".

As president, he was a close friend and supporter of the United States and a vocal spokesman

against communism during the Cold War. He led the foundation of the Southeast Asia Treaty

Organization, also known as the Manila Pact of 1954, that aimed to defeat communist-Marxist

movements in South East Asia, South Asia and the Southwestern Pacific.

During his term, he made Malacañang literally a "house of the people", opening its gates to the

public. One example of his integrity followed a demonstration flight aboard a new plane belonging to

the Philippine Air Force (PAF): President Magsaysay asked what the operating costs per hour were for

that type of aircraft, then wrote a personal check to the PAF, covering the cost of his flight. He restored

the people's trust in the military and in the government.

Magsaysay's administration was considered one of the cleanest and most corruption-free in

modern Philippines history; the period of his presidency is often cited as the Philippines's "Golden

Years". Trade and industry flourished, the Philippine military was at its prime, and the country gained

international recognition in sports, culture, and foreign affairs. The Philippines placed second on a

ranking of Asia's clean and well-governed countries.

Ushering a new era in Philippine government, President Magsaysay placed emphasis upon

service to the people by bringing the government closer to the former. This was symbolically seen when,

on inauguration day, President Magsaysay ordered the gates of Malacañan Palace open to all and

sundry, who were allowed to freely visit all the dependencies of the presidential mansion. Later, this

was regulated to allow weekly visitation.

True to his electoral promise, President Magsaysay created the Presidential Complaints and

Action Committee. This body immediately proceeded to hear grievances and recommend remedial
 22

action. Headed by soft-spoken, but active and tireless, Manuel Manahan, this committee would come to

hear nearly 60,000 complaints in a year, of which more than 30,000 would be settled by direct action

and a little more than 25,000 would be referred to government agencies for appropriate follow-up. This

new entity, composed of youthful personnel, all loyal to the President, proved to be a highly successful

morale booster restoring the people's confidence in their own government. He Appointed Zotico Tex

Paderanga Carrillo his Close Aide and Secretary 1953, as PCAC Chief for Mindanao and Sulu, he became

a close friend to the president because of his charisma to the Common people of Mindanao. Zotico is a

local Journalist and an esteemed writer from a Prominent Family in Camiguin Island, Misamis Oriental,

Zotico become a depository of complaints and an eye of the president in the region his diplomatic skills

became a passage for the government, moro and the rebels to hear the real situation in every city and

municipalities. with his zero corruption mandate he recognized a turn of achievement of Zotico that

made him his compadre when Zotico named his 5th child after the President when he won the Election

in 1953 Ramon Magsaysay P. Carrillo became one of the many God children of the president. President

Magsaysay also Visited Mindanao several times because of this Friendship he is the first President

visited Camiguin Island. Where thousand of people waited for his arrival in one of the Port in Camiguin

Island.

President Ramon F. Magsaysay was the first president who regularly wore the Barong Tagalog

(national costume). He set an example of humility by insisting that he be called "Mr. President" and not

"His Excellency".

To amplify and stabilize the functions of the Economic Development Corps (EDCOR), President

Magsaysay worked for the establishment of the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation

Administration (NARRA). This body took over from the EDCOR and helped in the giving some sixty-five

thousand acres to three thousand indigent families for settlement purposes. Again, it allocated some
 23

other twenty-five thousand to a little more than one thousand five hundred landless families, who

subsequently became farmers.

As further aid to the rural people, the president established the Agricultural Credit and

Cooperative Financing Administration (ACCFA). The idea was for this entity to make available rural

credits. Records show that it did grant, in this wise, almost ten million dollars. This administration body

next devoted its attention to cooperative marketing.

Along this line of help to the rural areas, President Magsaysay initiated in all earnestness the

artesian wells campaign. A group-movement known as the Liberty Wells Association was formed and in

record time managed to raise a considerable sum for the construction of as many artesian wells as

possible. The socio-economic value of the same could not be gainsaid and the people were profuse in

their gratitude.

Finally, vast irrigation projects, as well as enhancement of the Ambuklao Power plant and other

similar ones, went a long way towards bringing to reality the rural improvement program advocated by

President Magsaysay.

President Ramon Magsaysay at the Presidential Study, Malacañan Palace.

President Ramon Magsaysay enacted the following laws as part of his Agrarian Reform Program:

 Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954 – Abolished the LASEDECO and established the National

Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) to resettle dissidents and landless

farmers. It was particularly aimed at rebel returnees providing home lots and farmlands in

Palawan and Mindanao.

 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954) – governed the relationship between

landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and leasehold system. The law

provided the security of tenure of tenants. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations.
 24

 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) – Created the Land Tenure Administration

(LTA) which was responsible for the acquisition and distribution of large tenanted rice and corn

lands over 200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for corporations.

 Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing Administration) –

Provided small farmers and share tenants loans with low interest rates of six to eight percent.

In early 1954, Benigno Aquino, Jr. was appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to act as

personal emissary to Luís Taruc, leader of the rebel group, Hukbalahap. Also in 1954, Lt. Col. Laureño

Maraña, the former head of Force X of the 16th PC Company, assumed command of the 7th BCT, which

had become one of the most mobile striking forces of the Philippine ground forces against the Huks,

from Colonel Valeriano. Force X employed psychological warfare through combat intelligence and

infiltration that relied on secrecy in planning, training, and execution of attack. The lessons learned from

Force X and Nenita were combined in the 7th BCT.

With the all out anti-dissidence campaigns against the Huks, they numbered less than 2,000 by

1954 and without the protection and support of local supporters, active Huk resistance no longer

presented a serious threat to Philippine security. From February to mid-September 1954, the largest

anti-Huk operation, "Operation Thunder-Lightning" was conducted that resulted in the surrender of Luis

Taruc on 17 May. Further cleanup operations of the remaining guerillas lasted throughout 1955,

diminishing its number to less than 1,000 by year's end.

The administration of President Magsaysay was active in the fight against the expansion of

communism in the Asian region. He made the Philippines a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty

Organization (SEATO), which was established in Pepe Land on September 8, 1954 during the "Manila

Conference". Members of SEATO were alarmed at the possible victory of North Vietnam over South

Vietnam, which could spread communist ideology to other countries in the region. The possibility that a
 25

communist state can influence or cause other countries to adopt the same system of government is

called the domino theory.

The active coordination of the Magsaysay administration with the Japanese government led to

the Reparation Agreement. This was an agreement between the two countries, obligating the Japanese

government to pay $550 million as reparation for war damages in the Philippines.

Taking the advantage of the presence of U.S. Secretary John Foster Dulles in Manila to attend

the SEATO Conference, the Philippine government took steps to broach with him the establishment of a

Joint Defense Council. Vice-President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Garcia held the

opportune conversations with Secretary Dulles for this purpose. Agreement was reached thereon and

the first meeting of the Joint United States–Philippines Defense Council was held in Manila following the

end of the Manila Conference. Thus were the terms of the Mutual Defense Pact between the Philippines

and the United States duly implemented.

The Magsaysay administration negotiated the Laurel-Langley Agreement which was a trade

agreement between the Philippines and the United States which was signed in 1955 and expired in

1974. Although it proved deficient, the final agreement satisfied nearly all of the diverse Filipino

economic interests. While some have seen the Laurel-Langley agreement as a continuation of the 1946

trade act, Jose P. Laurel and other Philippine leaders recognized that the agreement substantially gave

the country greater freedom to industrialize while continuing to receive privileged access to US markets.

The agreement replaced the unpopular Bell Trade Act, which tied the economy of the

Philippines to that of United States economy.

Billed as an all-Oriental meet to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to

oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by either the United States or the Soviet Union in the Cold War, or

any other imperialistic nations, the Asian–African Conference was held in Bandung (Java) in April 1955,

upon invitation extended by the Prime Ministers of India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, and Indonesia. The
 26

conference is commonly known as the Bandung Conference. Although, at first, the Magsaysay

Government seemed reluctant to send any delegation. Later, however, upon advise of Ambassador

Carlos P. Rómulo, it was decided to have the Philippines participate in the conference. Rómulo was

asked to head the Philippine delegation.[2] At the very outset indications were to the effect that the

conference would promote the cause of neutralism as a third position in the current cold war between

the capitalist bloc and the communist group. John Kotelawala, Prime Minister of Ceylon, however, broke

the ice against neutralism. He was immediately joined by Rómulo, who categorically stated that his

delegation believed that "a puppet is a puppet",no matter whether under a Western Power or an

Oriental state.

At one time in the course of the conference, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru acidly

spoke against the SEATO. Quick to draw, Ambassador Rómulo delivered a stinging, eloquent retort that

prompted Prime Minister Nehru to publicly apologize to the Philippine delegation.

Records had it that the Philippine delegation ably represented the interests of the Philippines

and, in the ultimate analysis, succeeded in turning the Bandung Conference into a victory against the

plans of its socialist and neutralist delegates.

Following the reservations made by Ambassador Romulo, on the Philippines behalf, upon

signing the Japanese Peace Treaty in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, for several years of series of

negotiations were conducted by the Philippine government and that of Japan. In the face of adamant

claims of the Japanese government that it found impossible to meet the demand for the payment of

eight billion dollars by the way of reparations, president Magsaysay, during a so-called "cooling off"

period, sent a Philippine Reparations Survey Committee, headed by Finance Secretary Jaime Hernandez,

to Japan for an "on the spot" study of that country's possibilities.

 27

When the Committee reported that Japan was in a position to pay, Ambassador Felino Neri,

appointed chief negotiator, went to Tokyo. On May 31, 1955, Ambassador Neri reached a compromise

agreement with Japanese Minister Takazaki, the main terms of which consisted in the following: The

Japanese government would pay eight hundred million dollars as reparations. Payment was to be made

in this wise: Twenty million dollars would be paid in cash in Philippine currency; thirty million dollars, in

services; five million dollars, in capital goods; and two hundred and fifty million dollars, in long-term

industrial loans.

On August 12, 1955, President Magsaysay informed the Japanese government, through Prime

Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, that the Philippines accepted the Neri-Takazaki agreement. In view of political

developments in Japan, the Japanese Prime Minister could only inform the Philippine government of the

Japanese acceptance of said agreement on March 15, 1956. The official Reparations agreement between

the two government was finally signed at Malacañang Palace on May 9, 1956, thus bringing to a rather

satisfactory conclusion this long drawn controversy between the two countries.

Magsaysay's term, which was to end on December 30, 1957, was cut short by a plane crash. On

March 16, 1957, Magsaysay left Manila for Cebu City where he spoke at three educational institutions.

That same night, at about 1 am, he boarded the presidential plane "Mt. Pinatubo", a C-47, heading back

to Manila. In the early morning hours of March 17, the plane was reported missing. By late afternoon,

newspapers had reported the airplane had crashed on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, and that 36 of the 56

aboard were killed. The actual number on board was 25, including Magsaysay. Only newspaperman

Néstor Mata survived. Vice-President Carlos García, who was on an official visit to Australia at the time,

assumed the presidency to serve out the last eight months of Magsaysay's term.

He was survived by First Lady Luz Magsaysay (1914–2004), then 43 years old alongside with his

three grown-up children, daughters Teresita (1934–1979) then 23, Milagros (1936–), then aged 21 and
 28

his only son Ramon 'Jun' Jr. (1938–), then aged 18, as well as his elderly parents, Exequiel and Perfecta

Magsaysay who were both still living in their old ages of 83 and 71 at that time.

An estimated 2 million people attended Magsaysay's state funeral on March 22, 1957. He was

posthumously referred to as the "Champion of the Masses".