His Father's Namesake
The senator eyes the presidency

His friends say he is a “decent man.” But critics say Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr.’s record as a politician has been consistently pro-U.S. – the same stance that characterized his father’s presidency in the 1950s. Now he’s gunning for the presidency and he wants to be the administration party's standard-bearer in the 2004 elections. 

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. wants to be the standard bearer of the administration Lakas-CMD and the People Power Coalition (PPC) in the 2004 presidential elections. He launched his candidacy on June 25 but his presidential bid has not been endorsed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"I will do my best to get the party's approval to be its presidential contender next year,” Magsaysay said during the launch. “What we need right now is a unifying president to solve all the problems that beset our country.” 

The senator said he is seeking the presidency to improve the country's peace and order situation, work for national unification, and transform the government into one that would serve the interests of the people.

"I will work for programs that would prioritize health care and other basic things such as abundant potable water supply and a morality-based public service to revive the trust of the public in the government," he said.

Name recall

Jun Magsaysay is the only son of former President Ramon Magsaysay. He has two sisters.

As a politician, Magsaysay has relied mostly on the magic of the Magsaysay name to project himself onto the electoral front. Although he served as a Zambales representative from 1965 to 1969, he was not much of a famous man when he ran for senator in 1995, and was able to project himself into the public consciousness largely by highlighting the fact that he is the son of the late President Ramon Magsaysay, "The Man of the Masses."

He continues to draw fame from his being the son of the late president. His official website says: "Indeed, President Ramon Magsaysay's commitment to the Filipinos did not die with him in that tragic plane crash. His son, Jun Magsaysay, is living proof that the Filipino people have not entirely lost a great leader, he left behind a son to carry on the legacy."

It is thus important to recall the role that the late Ramon Magsaysay, Sr. played in the country's history.

In Renato and Letizia Constantino's The Philippines: The Continuing Past, Magsaysay is mentioned as a leader of the guerrilla unit Zambales Military District (ZMD) during the Japanese occupation. The book describes him as a "guerilla politician" who, after the war, built up a solid following by listing in the roster of the ZMD who aided in any manner the guerrillas or the American military forces in Zambales, "never mind if they were opportunists who enlisted only after the Americans had landed or even if they had not enlisted at all and were only relatives or friends of guerrilla officers."

Magsaysay briefly served as a representative of Zambales. He delivered only one privilege speech in his entire congressional career: a defense of the United States and U.S. Ambassador Myron Cowen, then under attack from the patriotic movement and its nationalist allies for intervening in government activities.

In 1950, he was appointed defense secretary by then President Elpidio Quirino, who received U.S. military aid in exchange. As defense secretary, Magsaysay was responsible for the brutal counter-insurgency campaign which launched a crackdown on legal progressive groups such as the Congress of Labor Organizations, the Pambansang Kaisahan ng mga Magbubukid, and the Philippine Newspaper Guild. The same counter-insurgency drive employed an all-out militaristic approach to the armed struggle then being waged by the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan in the countryside, and took thousands of innocent civilian lives.

Magsaysay was elected president in 1954 through the propaganda machinery of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which projected him as "the Man of the Masses." As president, he frequently consulted with CIA-affiliated personalities and organizations that influenced his government's policy in such a way that favored U.S. economic and political interests over real national development. The land reform law enacted under his administration had loopholes which favored rich landlords. His presidency is best remembered for its cosmetic projects which did nothing to change the condition of the masses.

Magsaysay the son

Jun Magsaysay, as earlier mentioned, became a representative of Zambales in 1965, and held that post until 1969.

He was elected senator in 1995. In 2001, he ran for reelection under the banner of the PPC and won another shot at the Senate.

His admirers remember him for being one of the senator-judges who voted in favor of opening the second envelope containing evidence against former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada during the impeachment trial. They describe him as a decent man.

However, Magsaysay has his own share of critics.

Magsaysay's critics recall that in 1999, he was one of the senators who voted in favor of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines. The said agreement grants extraterritorial and extrajudicial "rights" to U.S. military personnel visiting the Philippines for military "exercises."

Critics of Jun Magsaysay are not likely to forget soon that he was one of the senators who voted in favor of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, which provides for the privatization of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) ostensibly in order to relieve the said government agency of its huge debt burden. The law allows the sale of Napocor's generating plants to independent power producers, who in turn are permitted to pass on the burden of Napocor's foreign loans to consumers through the Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA). The PPA has inflated electric bills far beyond actual consumption and aroused the anger of consumer groups and people's organizations.

Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. is also a principal author of the act amending the Anti-Money Laundering Law (AMLA). Under the amendments to the AMLA, banks are required to report for investigation accounts amounting to P500,000 or more to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, a group headed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which is tasked to investigate "suspicious" bank accounts. Likewise, under the amendments to the AMLA, "suspicious" bank accounts can be opened without court order, contrary to the Bank Secrecy Law.

Recently, the senator expressed support for the clean-up drive of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which has forcibly driven sidewalk and street vendors off the streets of Metro Manila. Both human rights and urban poor groups say, the clean-up drive violates the rights of those who have been forced into plying their wares on the streets from poverty and lack of choice. Bulatlat.com

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.