A legacy from Magsaysay

Today is the death anniversary of the late president Ramon Magsaysay, who, in 1957, died when his plane, named Mt. Pinatubo, crashed unto the peak of Mt. Manungal, an upland barangay of the Municipality of Balamban. If the recollection of those old enough to discern his administration, six decades ago, were to be our basis, the late president was probably the best Chief Executive our country ever had. While he was not a genius in the mold of Einstein, he had the mind (italics, mine) profound enough to fathom what his country needed. It was not easy for anyone to administer a nation that was wrecked and ruined by the second world war. 

Have you heard the clause "Magsaysay is my Guy"? It referred to the late president. He earned that affectionate label, which the present generation may call a hash tag, because he had the humanity to come down from the nobility of the Malacañang Palace and mix with the ordinary mortals. Did you for example hear the story that at one time, Magsaysay appeared at the Carbon Market, without prior notice and sans guards? There was no doubt among his constituents that he was possessed with a heart (italics also is mine) that searched to feel the yearning of his people.

As we enter the midstream of the campaign for the election of our national officials, we need to find out who among the men and women courting for our votes, could approximate the mind and heart of the late president Magsaysay. This I do on my own biases and prejudices and in the order of preferences recorded from the respondents in the latest reported poll survey.

Senator Grace P. Llamanzares. If I confuse you with my use of the little known family Llamanzares, it is because that is my first bias. I am not comfortable with a wife who disregards the family name of a husband simply because her own is more popular. The chauvinist in me, and perhaps in many others, does not look with favor a woman who discerns that it is better to offer herself to public service riding on the popularity of her father's family name and at the same time belittling the man whom she married in the alter of God with a vow to honor him.

Magsaysay chose life's discomfort to talk with the Hukbalahaps in an effort to bring peace to our troubled land. Llamanzares decided to be an American for all the comforts a life in the US could offer and only came back when she saw the chance of getting elected to a high office. If this act is not sheer opportunism, I do not know what it really is. Unfortunately, that is my second bias against her.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte confessed publicly to be a part to the summary execution of more than a thousand mortals who were suspects of petty crimes. I am prejudiced against anyone who takes the law in his hand in the pretext of serving the public. No one is so high as to be above the law, if a reading of Villavicencio vs Lukban were to be our guide. Due process is a hallmark of our democratic principles and summary execution is intolerable. What the mayor did to the ordinary persons ran smack against our constitutional order.

I also saw the immorality of his act in kissing his women supporters on their lips, in plain public view because it gave me the feeling that every woman who might dare walk in the corridors of Malacañang would suffer the same ignominy, if not worse.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, no matter how his name has been battered by the rams of accusation of his alleged corrupt ways, is still very much entitled to the constitutional presumption of innocence. He will, of course, have his day in court soon. Unfortunately, while I am biased in favor of the constitutional presumption of his innocence, the vice president's continued refusal to offer bits and pieces of information indicative of his innocence, tended to give weight to his alleged corrupt ways.

Former Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II showed indecisiveness in more instances than one.  The courage to decide as quickly as the situation demands is an ingredient of responsibility. In that regard, the leadership of the Liberal Party candidate is flawed. That is my bias against his leadership.

We still have about 50 days to see who among the presidential candidates can hit the mark set by the late president Ramon Magsaysay. Let us use days to make sure to hit the mark.

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