Remembering Magsaysay: Greatness of spirit in service of Asian peoples

MANILA, Philippines — Today, Aug. 31, the new set of recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay (RM) Award, Asia’s most prestigious prize, will be announced.

The winners will be recognized for greatness of spirit they have demonstrated through the outstanding service they have been and are doing for Asian countries and peoples.

The event marks the 119th birth anniversary of the seventh President of the Philippines after whom the award is named. It is meant to honor and perpetuate the memory of the man who devoted his life to serving his country and people, especially the underprivileged and underserved.

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Magsaysay’s devotion to the Philippines and Filipinos began even before he entered politics. He was a soldier and, later, guerrilla leader during World War II (WWII).

After the war, he pursued his commitment to help ordinary Filipinos achieve a better life through public service.

Soldier, peacemaker

Magsaysay was among those who turned “swords into plowshares (the sharp steel blade at the bottom of the plow),” as the biblical phrase from prophets Isaiah and Micah in the Old Testament goes.

The popular saying literally means turning weapons into tools for growing food.

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He was a warrior, a leader of guerrillas fighting the Japanese in his home province of Zambales during the war, who became a peacemaker as defense secretary in the administration of President Elpidio Quirino. He had the task of taking back into the fold disenchanted Filipinos who felt left out after the war and rebelled against the government.

Magsaysay, the youngest to be elected to the highest office in the country, pursued a two-pronged strategy in pursuing a peaceful resolution to the insurgency.

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People who were using violence were met with force but Magsaysay also pursued programs to persuade those opposing the government to drop their weapons and resume their peaceful existence. He leveraged his experience as a regular working man before the war and procurer of supplies for his guerrilla unit (his code name was the self-explanatory “Chow”) during the war to connect with ordinary citizens.

Public life

His stint as secretary of defense earned him credibility and respect to get elected president of the Philippines, which was rebuilding after the devastation of WWII.

As president, he would continue his campaign to help the masses so they would be less inclined to take up arms against the government.

Magsaysay was one of many WWII combatants who were thrust into politics after the end of the war. His sterling performance as a guerrilla leader launched the political career of the president who would be known as The Guy and Man of the Masses.

While some claimed credit for getting RM into politics, the President, according to “The Magsaysay Story” by Carlos P. Romulo and Marvin M. Gray, declared “without any hesitation” that Col. Gyles Merrill, an American military officer who stayed behind after Gen. Douglas MacArthur left, was “instrumental in urging him into public life.”

In 1945, upon MacArthur’s return, the general, dubbed by writer William Manchester as the American Caesar, asked Merrill to submit nominees for the post of military governor of Zambales. “The chosen man must be acquainted with the terrain, capable, honest, careful of details and, above all, liked and trusted by both civilians and soldiers.”

Merrill submitted only one name—Ramon Magsaysay.

Courage and selflessness

When Gen. Charles Hall informed Magsaysay of his appointment, he told the future president, “Colonel Merrill has recommended you as honest, courageous and patriotic. My own investigations bear this out.”

RM was inducted as military governor of Zambales on Feb. 4, 1945.

The friendship between Magsaysay and Merrill remained strong even after the American returned to the United States. In 1948, then Zambales’ representative in Congress, Magsaysay visited his wartime buddy in Texas.

Merrill, according to Romulo and Gaye, told the would-be president: “It’s well enough to be a congressman, but take my advice, it’s better to be in the Cabinet.”

RM would visit his old friend again four years later. By this time, Magsaysay was secretary of national defense.

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Today, a new group of outstanding individuals who have demonstrated courage and selflessness in the service of the country and people will be recognized. /cb