2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee: Gethsie Shanmugan, a lifetime psychosocial worker of Sri Lanka

Gethsie Shanmugan as she was being presented 

during the awarding ceremonies.

Gethsie Shanmugam has spent most of her life in psychosocial work starting with children and adults displaced by the civil war in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka in 1983 after she retired from teaching.

"My work with children and adults living with war, disaster and other hardships has shown me that even in the context of terrible violence, loss and suffering," she stressed, "there is always the possibility of growth, caring and hope. Life can not only continue despite pain and hardships, but can take on new meaning and purpose."

She spoke about how she encouraged and assisted children on the small tidal island of Nasivantheevu in the mid-1990s who "found the courage to negotiate with the warring parties to allow safe passage for the bus that took them to school, enabling access to an education that would transform their lives."

She told about a soldier who lost both legs in the war, thrice considered suicide, and mistrusted others not of his ethnic tribe. Her personal attention taught the young man "to set aside his anger to care for an older woman from a community he deeply mistrusted."

She worked with widows who were "suddenly thrust into new roles in a society that stigmatized them ... [and their] determination and hard work enabled them to overcome challenges to secure a life for themselves and their children."

Shanmugam, a member of the minority Tamil community, took up psychology while teaching in Colombo and worked as a volunteer counselor when psychosocial work was still new in Sri Lanka. 

When she retired from teaching, she joined the Save the Children Norway (SCN). Here, she braved bombings, searches, threats of arrest in the war zones, crossed the Sinhalese-Tamil divide to do counseling work in collaboration with her colleagues, trained teachers and NGO workers.

In SCN, she was involved in the design of programs, research, training, and counseling in projects aimed at building capacities for psychosocial support in war-affected schools and at helping war widows, orphans, and traumatized children.

After SCN, she remained active as consultant and volunteer in organizations working with women and children suffering from war trauma, domestic violence, alcoholism, and sex trafficking. She led in establishing a pioneering temporary home for young people victimized by abuse and in trouble with the law.

After the tsunami of 2004 tsunami, Gethsie trained eighty school teachers in a government pilot program to provide a supportive environment for traumatized children. Using her experiences in various countries, she experimented with small, simple ways to build psychosocial resilience adapted to local conditions and the lack of trained professionals; and actively disseminated her knowledge through publications and the mass media.

Gethsie received the medallion and certificate from
Vice Pres. Leni Robredo and RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

Her concluding remarks in her response to the Ramon Magsaysay Award: "Whether working with children or adults, with individuals or groups, my four decades of experience has taught me that healing and transformation always starts with the person. For people who are in deep pain to begin to heal, it is essential for them to gain self-awareness and acceptance, which in turn shapes their capacity for healthy relationships with others or even towards themselves. This kind of personal growth is often something people overwhelmed by suffering find difficult to do for themselves, but with support and loving care from another human being, like the beautiful lotus that emerges from the mud, these people can be helped to bloom despite the pain they have experienced.

"As individuals we often feel that we can't do big things. But we can do small things. All change starts with a person. When one person becomes brighter and relates to others with genuine love, then small groups of individuals can form around them, creating small ripples of change in the world.

"I believe that each of us is a tool for the healing of ourselves, for the healing of others and for the healing of the societies we live in. No matter who or where we are, we can play a role in making the world a kinder and better place. This is the message that I would like to share with you all."

Gethsie Shanmugam was elected to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award in recognition of "her compassion and courage in working under extreme conditions to rebuild war-scarred lives, her tireless efforts over four decades in building Sri Lanka's capacity for psychosocial support, and her deep, inspiring humanity in caring for women and children, war's most vulnerable victims."

2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee: Tony Tay (Singapore) with his 'Willing Hearts'

'Willing Hearts,' a fully volunteer-based, secular and non-profit organization in Singapore, runs a soup kitchen that prepares and cooks six thousand meals a day for distribution at forty points around the island state.

Tony Tay with the other awardees seated behind him.

The hot, packed meals (segregated for the Muslims and non-Muslims) are for the needy: neglected and abandoned elderly, persons with disabilities, the sick, children of single-parent households, low-income families, and migrant workers.

Tony Tay founded this charity in 2003 starting with eleven volunteers. As of today, some three hundred regular volunteers operate the kitchen 365 days a year in a public community center.

Tay was born poor. Abandoned by their father when he was five years old, they were homeless with their mother engaging in transient jobs. He and a sister were put in an orphanage, and two other sisters were taken care by a foster family.

Tay dropped out of school at twelve, sought for food wherever he could, and worked at odd jobs. He persevered, slowly overcame poverty, and succeeded in the printing business he set up. He and his own family now live in modest comfort in his own home.

It was his mother that inspired him to start his 'one hot meal revolution': "[H]e was fifty-seven when, at his mother’s funeral, he was deeply moved by the great number of people who came to give their respects to his mother. Despite her own difficulties, she had devoted herself to charity work with the Canossian Sisters. Inspired, Tony and his wife began their share of doing good for others -- collecting unsold bread and vegetables from the market and bringing these to the Canossian convent to be given to the needy. Enlisting family and friends, they began to cook what they had gathered in their home kitchen, delivering packed meals to the poor and elderly."

Tay looks at 'Willing Hearts' as a way of being part of one family, one village considering that he did not have much of a family when he was growing up. “We are just sharing,' he said, 'sharing all that we have in life to make a better society.”

That simple sharing of food has fostered the spirit of volunteerism among taxi drivers (they deliver food packs), parents with their children (they help in the Willing Hearts kitchen--preparing ingredients, packing meal boxes, cleaning and washing), among others.

Tony Tay receiving the medallion and certificate from
Vice Pres. Leni Robredo & RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

In his response after receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award, he expressed his gratitude to those who answered "YES" when he asked for help:

• the Canossian sisters to help collect extra bread that were not sold for the day from a bakery.
• to distribute the rest of the bread to those who need it;
• to collect the extra vegetables from wholesalers;
• to my wife when she asked to cook for the elderly who cannot cook for themselves;
• to all who asked for help along the way.

'Willing Hearts,' he said, 'is a journey of many who said "YES", yes to those in need. Willing Hearts started with one word -- YES.'

In electing Tony Tay to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognized 'his quiet, abiding dedication to a simple act of kindness – sharing food with others – and his inspiring influence in enlarging this simple kindness into a collective, inclusive, vibrant volunteer movement that is nurturing the lives of many in Singapore.'

2017 Ramon Magsaysay awardee: 'activist, victim, indigenous person' Abdon Nababan of Indonesia

Abdon Nababan.

Abdon Nababan is acknowledged today as the single most important person in the indigenous peoples (IP) movement in Indonesia. He has worked tirelessly with the movement for twenty-four years.

He is a Toba Batak from Sumatra, one of seventy million very ethnically diverse masyarakat adat (IP) of Indonesia.

Nababan began his social advocacy when he was still a student, and became an officer of a non-government organization (NGO) after graduation from Bogor University in 1987.

I became an activist in the late '80s,' he said, 'opposing the all-too-powerful New Order Regime. In the '90s I realized that I was also a victim. I am one of millions of Indigenous Peoples of Indonesia. At the time, I--an activist, a victim, an indigenous person--fought an industrial forest company in our ancestral lands.'

The land taken over by the big industrial company was actually ancestral land that belonged to his grandparents and other Toba Batak families.

'That company, however, was just a front for the real oppressor: authoritarianism and development,' he stressed. 'For them, we the Indigenous Peoples, were not wanted. We are to be oppressed, to be eradicated, criminalized, impoverished, victimized.'

After the fall of Suharto in 1999, he helped organize a congress that launched the mass-based organization called AMAN (Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara or Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago).

AMAN today is the country's largest and most influential non-state organization with over 115 local and 21 regional chapters throughout Indonesia’s thirty-four provinces: these represent a collective membership of over 17 million. Before AMAN, Indonesia recognized only one million masyarakat adat.

The indigenous peoples have become a political force to reckon with. AMAN delivered 12 million votes to President Joko Widodo in the 2014 election after he made six commitments during the campaign to address the needs of the IPs. The government has yet to deliver on these commitments though. 

Under Nababan’s leadership, AMAN challenged the existing forestry laws. In 2012, they won a landmark constitutional court ruling that forests in IP territories are not “state forests,” hence, some fifty-seven million hectares of government-controlled forest land were returned to indigenous communities.

AMAN, with the support of NGOs, launched the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency in 2010 to create a single data base for verifying land and forest claims on ownership, use and tenure. With Nababan at the helm, they were able to submit to the government "indigenous maps" covering 8.23 million hectares in 2016.  

The constitutional court ruling and AMAN’s maps, however, are still awaiting implementation.

Nababan receiving medal and certificate from Vice Pres. Leni Robredo
and RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

In his response to the award, he revealed that he accepted the challenge of the indigenous peoples of North Sumatra to run for governor of the province, which he described as 'so corrupt and violent ... controlled by mobs and drug dealers.'

In parting, he said: 'When differing opinions or interests manifests into violent conflicts, when the use of religion means more killings, when developing the economy means destroying the environment, standing here before you, I am offering the values and spirit of Indigenous Peoples to tackle present-day problems of our society and the environment--inequality, crimes, climate change--in a way that is not violent, but humane and sustainable. ... And let our countries, Indonesia and the Philippines, lead the world towards peace, where the well-being of people, plants, animals, water, soils and air prevail.'

Abdon Nababan was elected by the RMAF to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award in recognition of 'his brave, self-sacrificing advocacy to give voice and face to his country’s IP communities, his principled, relentless, yet pragmatic leadership of the world’s largest IP rights movement, and the far-reaching impact of his work on the lives of millions of Indonesians.'

2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee: Lilia B. de Lima - honest, competent and dedicated public servant

Atty. Lilia B. De Lima as she was presented to the audience.

'One-stop, non-stop shop, no red tape, and no corruption.' That's how Lilia B. De Lima described the brand of service she instituted at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) under her leadership for twenty one years.

For that, she got a rousing round of applause during the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awards presentation ceremonies on 31 August 2017.

She was appointed the first Director-General of the organization in 1995. She told former president Fidel Ramos who was in the audience: 'If not for you, sir, I wouldn't be here [for this award].'

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) noted that under her helm, PEZA became 'a showcase of successful regulatory reform, a model of honest and committed public service, and a key contributor to the nation's economic growth.'

'It wasn't a walk in the park,' she said. 'We inherited an extremely bloated bureaucracy. Trimming the fat by 60 percent was a long, torturous and emotionally draining process. It was the most bruising experience in my public career, Everything was thrown at me. But we did not waver, and we cleaned up.'

The awardee with Vice Pres. Leni Robredo
and RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

'My twenty-one years at PEZA was a privilege as it was a commitment. It gave me the opportunity to serve my country and help generate employment for our people.'

PEZA generated some 6.3 million jobs for Filipinos in direct and indirect employment during her term.

She thanked the investors ;who trusted in our capability to ensure that their operations can be set up at the soonest time and at the least cost.'

'As we strengthened the organization, we also instituted sweeping structural and policy reforms to remain competitive and address the ever changing investment climate,' she said.

The country became one of the region's top investment destinations.

With De Lima at the helm, the number of PEZA ecozones increased by 2,000% (from the initial 16 to 343 by 2016); registered enterprises rose from 331 to 5,756; investments reached PhpP 3 trillion; and ecozone exports totaled USD629 billion. PEZA remitted to the national treasury PhP16.6 billion in corporate income taxes and dividends, and paid off the debt of PhP4.6 billon of its predecessor agency.

From day one, she emphasized, their mantra was 'absolute honesty and utmost service in all our dealings with our stakeholders.'

She added that she survived four presidents for only one simple reason: "do[ing] your job with integrity and professionalism [which] is the best credential you can have, and the only endorsement you will need.'

She expressed hope that PEZA will continue to be 'a clean and efficient organization with highly motivated, hardworking professionals.' 

The 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees with Vice Pres. Leni Robredo
and RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

In recognition of 'her unstinting, sustained leadership in building a credible and efficient PEZA, proving that the honest, competent and dedicated work of public servant can, indeed, redound to real economic benefits to millions of Filipinos,' the RMAF board of trustees elected Lilia B. Delima as a recipient of the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee: Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA)

It may be serendipity that the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) received the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award on its 50th year.

It celebrated its 50th Anniversary in April with a concert aptly titled Singkwenta (Fifty) which featured the best songs culled from around 500 plays--original, translated, or adapted--produced through the years.

The celebration was held at the PETA Phinma Theater at the PETA Center in Quezon City. This permanent home is a long way from the Rajah Sulayman Theater, converted from the ruins of the Spanish military barracks, where it all started in 1967 with the production of Bayaning Huwad, Filipino translation of Virginia Moreno's English play 'Straw Patriot.'

PETA president Cecile B. Garucho about to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay

Award from Vice Pres. Leni Robredo and RMAF chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

PETA was originally envisioned as a 'national theater' by its founder Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Ramon Magsaysay awardee for public service in 1972 before the declaration of martial law. It remained active during the dictatorship and together with other groups by 'staging theater as a medium of protest and conscientization.' After 1986, it was ready 'to respond to both new and continuing challenges, and through its collective of artist-teachers, 'to directly engaged with the realities of people's lives.'

"We were taught early on that whatever we learned as artists,we were to share by teaching others especially non-theater people," PETA president Cecille B. Garrucho informed the audience during the awards presentation. "We were to use our art to serve. We went in small teams to barangays all over the country, The purpose was always to draw out the creative power of ordinary folk: women in poor communities, students and public school teachers, child workers in the sugar cane fields, farmers, workers and fisherfolks, It didn't matter whether they were literate or not. The PETA workshop's main goal was to give people the creative tools to tell stories that tackled ways to solve their common problems, that could bring about healing from trauma, and that spoke of their dreams and aspirations. As actors we would bring the stories of the people we met to life onstage so their voices could be heard. ..."

Garrucho acknowledging the award with two PETA officers

"[T]he artist members plunged into years of trailblazing work adding more productions to PETA's list of original plays," Garrucho added. "Collaborating with many sectors, PETA developed and refined its pedagogy of People's Theater, This we shared with groups across the country, with our partners in the Mekong Region and Asia, as well as with migrant Filipinos in Europe, North America and Australia."

From 2005 to 2008, PETA led the Greater Mekong Sub-region Partnership in mobilizing, mentoring and supporting performing artists from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and southern China. The mission was 'to effectively undertake advocacy-through-the-arts issues such as gender, health, sexuality, and HIV-AIDS.'

After typhoon Yolanda's devastation in 2013, the theater company launched Lingap Sining (Nurturing Through the Arts) in Leyte that creatively used the arts in various interventions like emergency relief, psychosocial debriefings, disaster preparedness and building of more resilient disaster risk reduction readiness in the communities.

PETA Chorale rendering the Makabayan Suite, a medley of 

nationalist songs from some of their play productions.

As an integrated, people-based cultural collective, PETA has major units to address specific missions: Kalinangan Ensemble as its repertory and performing arm, the School of People's Theater for its year-round training and development engagements, and a Special Programs unit for undertaking specific advocacies.such as women's and children's rights, plight of domestic and overseas workers, environmental protection, reproductive health, and electoral reform.

Thus, in recognition of 'its bold, collective contributions in shaping the theater arts as a force for social change, its impassioned, unwavering work in empowering communities in the Philippines, and the shining example it has set as one of the leading organizations of its kind in Asia, the board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation elected PETA as one of the awardees this year.  

Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers: 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

The Ramon Magsaysay Award. (Source: http://rmaward.asia/)

We have not encountered Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) except through the cinema. In the recent Japanese Film Festival Eiga Sai 2016 in Metro Manila, one of the featured movies was about three young volunteers in the Philippines, two men and a woman: one of the men worked with the tourism department as a photographer and the other as an aquaculture worker in Mayoyao, Ifugao, and the woman as a midwife in a Baguio hospital.  This movie titled "Crossroads"  was released in 2015.

We tried to find out if the movie story line is based on actual experiences of JOCVs in the Philippines. 

There was indeed a volunteer who assisted the municipal agriculturist of Mayoyao in setting up a simpler and organic method of raising loach in 2013. This fish (dojo to the people) is abundant in the rice fields there but it is not an indigenous species; it is also eaten in Japan, Korea and China.

In "Crossroads", the aquaculture volunteer is a young man, The one who stayed in Mayoyao was a young woman. 

Available accounts of JOCV accomplishments in the Philippines do not mention any one involved with tourism, but they do mention those who did public health nursing in some parts of the country other than the Cordilleras.

The JOCV was established as a program of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1965 to assist developing countries,  Volunteers (aged 20 to 39) are assigned to host countries for two years. The first volunteers were dispatched to the Philippines in 1966. Their website says that 'the Philippines is one of the countries with the largest number of JOCV assignments.'

The fields of specialization of volunteers in the Philippines are listed as follows:

• Agriculture, forestry, fisheries: animal husbandry, soils and fertilizer, aquatic products processing, animal hygiene, veterinary medicine, rural community development;
• Manufacturing and maintenance:  ceramics/chinaware, product design, garments
• Education and information services: science and math, computer technology, Japanese language instruction, youth activities;
• Public health and medical service: nurse, physical therapy, social worker, nursing for disabled person.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation says that the "[a]reas of volunteer work span 190 fields of specialization in education, social welfare, health care, environmental sustainability, agriculture, manufacturing, public works, sports, and governance. The work of JOCV volunteers improved lives, induced behavioral change, and transferred knowledge and skills to partners and communities in many countries."

Now on its 51st year, the JOCV has been chosen as one of the six recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2016.  This is in recognition of the "idealism and spirit of service in advancing the lives of communities other than their own, demonstrating over five decades that it is indeed when people live, work, and think together that they lay the true foundation for peace and international solidarity.”

The citation capsulizes work done by the volunteers in several countries: "In Laos, Japanese volunteers assisted a provincial handicraft center in the design and marketing of products in a project aimed at reducing the villagers’ reliance on poppy farming. In Ghana, a volunteer who worked with Toyota in Japan helped locals with on-the-job training in automotive repair and a car assembly shop. In Bangladesh, a succession of a hundred volunteers over a ten-year period improved the preventive polio vaccination rate and eradicated polio and filariasis in the country. In the Philippines, volunteers teamed up with local teachers in developing teaching materials and organizing programs to foster interest in science among young Filipinos. These are a few of thousands of examples of the myriad arenas of interaction in which young Japanese men and women voluntarily immersed themselves in other cultures and helped people and communities."

The citation also mentions Hidekazu Kumano, a volunteer in the 1960s who has maintained his friendship with the people of Benguet. When he was assigned there, he worked with the farmers in growing thousands of mulberry trees.

In brief, the Magsaysay Award recognizes the JOCVs for "building a world of genuine solidarity/" 

Source: The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation at http://rmaward.asia/

There are two other organizations who will receive the Award: Dompet Dhuafa (Indonesia) for "expanding the transformative impact of zakat" and Vientiane Rescue (Laos) for "volunteering to save lives at risk".

Three individuals will also be honored with the Award:  Thodur Madabusi Krishna (India) for "ensuring social inclusiveness in culture," Bezwada Wilson (India) for "asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity," and Conchita Carpio Morales for "restoring faith in the rule of law."

The 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies will be on 31 August 2016 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. 

Tourist-ing at the Manila North Cemetery before Undas

Undas is the Pinoy term for All Saints’ Day, 1^st of November, a national holiday, when families visit their dearly departed in public cemeteries, private memorial parks, and, of late, columbaries where they say prayers, light candles, adorn graves and tombs with flowers, and have a picnic, this one a matter of convenience or a borrowed Chinese custom. 

In Manila and other cities, people who hate traffic jams around burial grounds make their visits on the eve of undas or Halloween, when pranksters spook every one with ghoulish costumes to remind of ghosts and supernatural elements that prowl in the night, or on the day after, the All Souls’ Day, the religiously correct undas because in the Roman Catholic liturgy, this is the “Commemoration of All Faithful Departed.”  In Latin American countries, All Souls’ is their Day for the Dead, a national holiday.

Flower & candle stalls before the entrance to the Manila North Cemetery

October 28, elections day was traffic-light, so we decided to visit the Manila North Cemetery, one of the oldest and biggest cemeteries in Manila. In comparison, undas traffic here is super-heavy, and we’re speaking of hordes of visitors to a burial ground of 54 hectares.  It was an afternoon visit, so it was quite hurried, there was not much time to tarry, and the light was getting insufficient for the camera.

We returned on the 29th and 30th, but early enough in the afternoon and we had time to read inscriptions and take photographs of interesting places, people and things.  Motor vehicles were still allowed to get, tricycles were ferrying visitors who do not like to walk under the shady trees.

This was our first time visit to Manila North as tourist; we've come here before for the funeral of a friend.  We relied on residents here for directions and locations of gravesites of interest. They know the place like the face of their palms. They are caretakers of mausoleums, homes to their families throughout the year except on undas, when they store their household goods (some have washing machines too) in a temporary shelter and take leave for the visiting owners. 

We went visiting tombs of historical, political and popular figures.
 

The memorial to the 24 Boy Scouts.

 The memorial monument to the 24 boy scouts who died in a plane crash in 1963 on their way to Marathon, Greece for the 11th World Jamboree is found at the entrance, before the gate.  We met a priest who said he was to have been part of the delegation but he got sick.  He pointed out who among them were his classmates and friends after offering prayers and blessing the site. 

Presidents Sergio Osmena, Manuel Roxas, Ramon Magsaysay and Diosdado Macapagal are buried here, but we missed Macapagal's gravesite.  

Magsaysay's tomb has a Philippine flag representation and a wall inscribed with one of his quotable statements. “The president should set the example of a big heart, an honest mind, sound instincts, the virtue of healthy impatience and an abiding love for the common man,” he continues to implore from his grave.   Visitors today may want to check if the incumbent executive comes up to these measures.

In memoriam: Ramon Magsaysay.

Statesman Claro M. Recto's tomb also has a background wall containing his words, which are more philosophical:  ‘I am like the old man who plants a tree in his yard knowing that he may not sit in its shade.  I shall be content if future generations shall repeat with Tasio the philospher in the Noli Me Tangere: “No todos dormian en la noche de nuestros abuelos”[Not everybody slept in the  night of our forefathers].’ 

In memoriam:  Claro M. Recto.

The tomb of Gatpuno Antonio Villegas has also a background wall that contains his prayer.  The nearby tombs of two other mayors, and that of Arsenic or Arsenio Lacson, which is in another site, do not have statement walls.
 

Prayer of Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas.

Heroes are entombed in the Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolution (Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Revolution), which we found very colorful amidst several Philippine flags draped from poles on both sides. This was designed by Arcadio Arellano, and built by the Manila city government and Asociacion de los Veteranos de la Revolucion in 1915. The remains of several veterans of the 1896 revolution and of the Philippine-American war are entombed here like those of Comandante Tomas Arguelles, Gen.  Pio del Pilar and Gen. Mariano Noriel.

Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolution

One would not miss the Bautista-Nakpil gravesite with an beautifully sculptured obelisk.  This is where the remains of Gregoria de Jesus (d. 1943) and her husband Julio Nakpil (d. 1960), heroes of the revolution, were buried. She was the widow of Gat Andres Bonifacio, and he was a Katipunan military commander and well-known musician-composer. 

This is where Gregoria de Jesus and her husband Julio Nakpil were buried.

 Heroes too were the first American teachers in the Philippines, collectively called Thomasites, who were at the forefront of the public school system that the Americans introduced upon the departure of the Spanish colonial masters.

In memoriam:  the first American teachers in the Philippines.

The American Teachers’ Memorial was erected in 1918 in “memory of the American school teachers whose mortal remains lie beneath this hallowed ground known as the American little teachers plot and those others who rest in unknown and unmarked graves in various parts of the country, as a token of the Filipino people’s esteem of their dedications and self-sacrifices.  The first group of American teachers numbering about 48 arrived in the Philippines on board the SS Sheridan in July 1901. The succeeding 540 educators arrived on August 21, 1901 on SS Thomas leaving behind their homes and family and worked tirelessly for the education of the Filipino people and the improvement of the educational system in the country.”

In memoriam: Francis Burton Harrison

Harrison Street and Harrison Plaza may just be place names to many Filipinos today.  They do not know that these are memorials to Francis Burton Harrison, the American Governor General of the Philippines from March 1913 to September 1921.  He was known to be pro-Filipino, an advocate of Philippine independence.

He willed to be buried in the Philippines. Hence, when he died in 1957, his remains were brought back to the Philippines; he was buried at Manila North Cemetery.

In memoriam: Pancho Villa

The name Francisco V. Guilledo does not ring a bell to Filipinos, but Pancho Villa certainly sounds like a knock-out bell.

His grave lies along Main Street of Manila North.  It cannot be missed because it features his bust, ‘Pancho Villa’ clearly etched below it, and behind is an angel figure holding a belt proclaiming he is the world flyweight champion.  He was the first Filipino boxer to gain that title. 

The historical marker tells us that he was 24 when he died on 14 July 1925.  He started as a handyman in the stable of Francisco Villa, and he first won in a boxing match in 1918 at the age of 17. He gained world fame in December 1921, and was champion from 1922 to 1925. Ring Magazine added his name to the Hall of Fame in 1961.

The Poe mausoleum may be far from the cemetery gate, at the last loop from Main Street, but one can walk for the exercise rather than take a tricycle ride. 

In Memoriam: Fernando Poe, Jr.

This is where popular movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr, better known as FPJ and Da King, is entombed.

In the Pinoy’s recent memory of Philippine politics, he was cheated in the presidential elections of 2004.   If it was an appeasement, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo granted him posthumously the National Artist of the Philippines for Film award in May 2006.  It was confirmed by Pres. Benigno Aquino III and the family received it in July 2012.

To Filipinos who will visit his resting place on undas, Ronald Allan Kelley Poe or FPJ will always be the King of Filipino Movies.  To them, as inscribed on his tomb, he will always be alive in their hearts and memories (lagi ka sa aming puso at alaala).

That’s the same spirit that makes the Filipino spend a day with their faithful departed: a loving memory.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

Ramon Magsaysay@104: "Daang Matuwid" 1954

Source:  Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Website.

We were innocent schoolboys when Ramon Magsaysay was president of the republic, and the only memory we have of him is his signature campaign jingle Mambo Jambo and the grief of the neighborhood and our teachers when he died in a plane crash on 17 March, 1957.

We knew he was from Zambales from our principal who tearfully recalled before our grade 3 class the pranks he played on them when they were classmates in our town's private high school.  We'd have the bragging rights years later when we've become an alumnus like him of the same school, Zambales Academy.

We remember Filipino First, the catchphrase associated with Carlos P Garcia.  It was under him or Diosdado Macapagal that the country was placed in an austerity program, and so for some years we scrimped on town fiestas or canceled them altogether.  But definitely it was Macapagal who changed independence day from 4th of July to June 12.

Our political consciousness matured through the long years of living dangerously under the Marcos regime.  We too were in the thick of the EDSA revolt of 1986, and the highs and lows in the aftermath from Cory Aquino to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  

We've always maintained a certain wariness of the so-called Yellow Magic, too many myths have been woven around it, we think.  Thus, we try hard to dissociate Benigno Simeon Cojuanco Aquino III from his mother to give him a chance to shine in his own color.  

We wish him well in leading us in the struggle for that "Daang Matuwid".  It's not a new battle cry,  it's vintage Rizal in another form and context, it also harks back to Ramon Magsaysay, who had as much charisma and magic like his (PNoy's) mother, who called for "morality in government" in his first state of the nation address (SONA) on 25 January 1954.

Here's the pertinent excerpt from The Guy's SONA, an echo that still rings very true today--

"MORALITY IN GOVERNMENT  

"And now let us consider the moral state of the nation. There is little in the immediate past of which we may be proud. Since the change of administration, we have unearthed one case after another of outrageous corruption, abuse of power, and manipulation of the laws for self-enrichment.  The sordid record is just beginning to unfold. I fear that further inquiry will yield even uglier facts.

"What, we have been asked, are we going to do about all this?

"We must, first of all, remove unworthy government officials and employees.   Where the evidence so warrants, we will prosecute those who justly deserve prosecution.   Not only considerations of morale and discipline but also the very progress of our work make this demand upon us.· We shall not be able to move ahead for as long as those entrusted with the promotion of the public welfare are busy exploring and exploiting opportunities for selfish ends. We simply cannot tolerate such men in the government. They must go.

"I wish to make clear that the spirit of justice, not of persecution, will guide us in this undertaking.  The innocent, the honest and the efficient need fear nothing from us.   This Government will protect and defend their rights by enforcing impartially and without political bias our civil service rules and regulations.  In the Executive Department, I will not permit anyone to exact political vengeance on honest and efficient employees by dismissing them without cause or harassing them in any other way.  The victory we have won is not a license for political persecution.

"To guide us in the conduct of public business, we must return to the timeless moral and political principles which we have either forgotten or taken for granted. There is the principle that honesty is the best policy in public as well as in private life. There is the principle that, while politics is indispensable for the workings of democracy, it cannot be superior to the interest of the nation.

"In the effort to secure for ourselves and our children a government of integrity and efficiency, I will welcome whatever legislation may be enacted by Congress that will serve to prevent, deter; and discourage corruption, increase the penalty for malfeasance in office, and lay down definite rules of ethical conduct in government.

"In the last few years there has been a decline of morality.   Character building alone, without a solid moral foundation, has been found inadequate in developing a sound citizenry. We should improve and strengthen the implementation of the Constitutional provision on optional religious instruction through practical and just measures.

"I shall address to the Congress on another occasion  a special message on the problems of students who have proved their right to participate in public affairs, as well as on the need to stimulate and foster the growth of our native culture among our youth. 

"ACTION AND UNITY 

"These, then, are the problems that we are committed to solve. To be sure, many more will arise in the course of this administration. But I sincerely believe that solutions to them will be found, just as I am confident that we· shall be able to dispose of the difficult business at hand.

"I must remind you of an all-important fact: that what we have set out to do can be realized only through concerted action and unity. More than ever, we must think, plan, and work as one, with only one supreme goal in mind-the promotion of the welfare and happiness of our people.

"Perhaps you will say that the people are asking for a miracle. But they too performed no less than a miracle when in one great irresistible movement they dared every peril to preserve the right to have a government of their choice. Thus, they proved to the whole world, to our friends and enemies, that democracy has come of age in our land, that it has become truly and actively a part of the Filipino way of life.

"We have pledged to enrich that life.   We can do it.  We must do it. With the aid of Divine Providence, we shall    begin and continue the work until we shall have fulfilled the great promise that gave our people strength to prove themselves worthy of their heritage of freedom."

P.S. The complete first SONA can be retrieved through the hyperlink in the reference below.The second to the fourth SONAs can also be accessed from the Official Gazette online.

Reference:    

Official Gazette Online. Ramon Magsaysay, First State of the Nation Address, January 25, 1954.  Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/1954/01/25/ramon-magsaysay-first-state-of-the-nation-address-january-25-1954/

The grief of the nation 54 years ago

[Foreword:  This is a revised copy of a piece we wrote for our e-group of town mates from Zambales two weeks before the 50th anniversary of President Ramon F. Magsaysay's death on 17 March, 2007.  We also wrote another one in time for his birth centennial five months later on August 31 that same year.]

RAMON MAGSAYSAY

31 Agosto 1907 - 17 Marzo 1957

Pangulo ng Pilipinas

30 Disyembre 1953

17 Marzo 1957

 --Inscription on his tomb--

It's not clear to us now whether schools have closed for the summer (we were in Grade 3 at SanJose-Patrocinio Elementary School in San Narciso, Zambales), but that 17th day of March 1957, the people in our neighborhood were all gathered around the teachers Ceferino and Maria de los Reyes under the mango tree in their yard.  They were all too upset and looking so glum talking about this man Monching for it could not be true that he had died. We heard snatches of their story – a plane crash, a survivor but not him, and sometimes later, a glimmer of hope that Monching is alive and safe in the care of mountain tribes.   Those days, information was slow; and there was only the Manila Times, the night radio in a small town where electricity came only after dark, and needless to say, rumors.

We only sensed the grief of the nation from our parents and the older folks in the neighborhood.  We wondered why for some time our older cousins studying in Manila would show around their pictures after visiting the tomb of Ramon Magsaysay, the man in that popular song of our childhood, Mambo Jambo. 

While growing up, we would meet old people reminisce their friendship with the late President, when they were schoolmates at the Zambales Academy, or when they were guerillas under his command, or when they would go visit him in his office in Malacanang, which he opened to the common tao like them. 

The Ramon Magsaysay bust we saw everyday that we attended classes at the Zambales Academy. That we're both alumni of this school--37 batches apart--is one reason we've been helping keep his memory alive for the younger generation.

We've bumped into him through various historians and biographers, and saw how he'd been cloaked in various different political colors.  There's no dispute however that he was well loved.  

The grief of the nation in March 1957was very well expressed by the orations of Carlos P. Garcia, who assumed the presidency of the Republic at 5:50 PM, March 18 upon his immediate return from an official visit to Australia, and Sergio Osmena, former President of the Philippines, already an old man at that time, who repeatedly suggested to RM to stay the night in Cebu at his place and leave at daytime.  The orations retrieved from the April 1957 issue of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) Journal, are appended at the end of this article.

The AmCham journals of that period also provided us with a day-to-day account of the RM presidency, as far back as election day in November 1953.  For this piece, here are the entries from March 16, when the President flew to Cebu City, to March 22, when his mortal remains were interred at the Manila North Cemetery: 

"March 16- President Magsaysay flies to Cebu City on the presidential plane, Pagasa, and is received with a 21-gun salute at the air port after which he speaks to the large crowd of welcomers gathered there and states that he has already ordered 20,000 tons of rice from the United States and ordered the NARIC to augment its corn purchasing activities to meet the corn scarcity in the Visayas and Mindanao. From the air port the President proceeds to the residence of former President Sergio Osmena to make a courtesy call. At 4 o'clock he attends the commencement exercises of the University of the Visayas and delivers an address on education and the rights of parents and of the state in that connection and the need of preparing young people to earn a livelihood rather than to receive a degree. At 6 o'clock he attends the commencement exercises of the South-western Colleges and delivers a short address on communism and neutralism, stating:

 "Communism is anti-Filipino...Neutralism is anti-Filipino. To attempt to foist it upon our people is to do them a grave disservice. The country has no need of fence-sitters in the struggle to preserve our way of life. Either we continually love and live this way of life, or communism, stretching across the earth and threatening us here and now, will choke it from the body of our nation. We are a people with a history of courage. There is no place in that history for the fear of freedom, the fear to be on the side of freedom, the fear to be against slavery, the fear to strike a light for liberty amid the encircling gloom that is communism..."

At 8 o'clock the President attends the commencement exercises of the San Carlos University and again speaks of communism, stating:

"...I have been called a Huk-fighter... But I knew even then, and I am convinced more than ever now, that while that phase of fighting communism is important, it is far from attacking the problem at its roots. That is why I am so insistent on rural development and the improvement of the national economy. Poverty and unemployment are not the causes of communism, but they are conditions which make it easy for that ideology to thrive. Communism as an ideology, however, was conceived by intellectuals, not by laborers and peasants. It is spread by clever propagandists, preying on the grievances of the poor and frustrated..."

Speaking of Philippine-American relations, he said:

"You do not have to be anti-American or anti-foreign in order to be resoundingly Filipino. And this is the message that I should like to leave with you tonight: you are the battlefield on which future wars will be won or lost-you can not remain neutral-you will have to take a stand. But keep in mind the principles you have imbibed in this University: keep your faith, and your faith will keep you."

"Later in the evening, the President attends the induction of officers of the Patria Recreation Club, the building of the Club constructed by the Archbishop of Cebu and the local Knights of Columbus, where he delivers a few remarks, after which, at around midnight, he motors to the Club Filipino where he holds a short open forum with a group of veterans. Leaving at 12:45 he spends around a half hour to inspect a community development project in the city and then motors to the Cebu air port, accompanied by former President Osmena and with a party of "about 24" boards the Army Air Force plane, the Mount Pinatubo, a newly refitted C-47, which has been at his disposal for the past 6 months. The plane departs at 1:15 (Sunday morning).

"March 17 - A radio-message from the plane immediately after it takes off states that the ceiling is unlimited with a few clouds at a low altitude, that it will fly at 9,000 feet, and that it is expected to arrive in Manila at 3:15; it is requested that Malacafiang cars be at the Manila air port at that time. PAF headquarters expecting to receive a position report one hour after the plane's take-off as it enters the Philippine Air Defense Zone Area (PADIZ) and no such report being received, Philippine Air Force Base Operations at Nichols Field start a communications check and the results being negative, search operations are started. The Office of the Press Secretary, Malacanang, issues its first press release at 2:00 p.m., announcing the facts, though the search had started early in the morning,--11 PAF planes with 5 more alerted, 1 Civil Aeronautics Administration plane, 3 Philippine Air Lines planes with 2 more alerted, 9 U. S. Air Force planes; 9 Philippine Navy ships are also engaged in the search with 6 more standing by; "U.S. authorities are fully cooperating in the operations...Admiral Wendell Switzer visited the operations center at Nichols Air Base and General John Ackerman is due at Nichols from Baguio"; in over-all charge are Secretary of National Defense Eulogio Balao and Commodore Jose Francisco, Acting Armed Forces Chief of Staff with General Manuel Cabal, Philippine Constabulary Chief, and Col. Pedro Q. Molina, deputy PAF chief, assisting; General Benito Ebuen, PAF chief, is a member of the President's party. "The search is being concentrated in the area along the normal route of flight between Cebu City and Manila." Assistant Press Secretary Guillermo V. Sison, who is one of the members of the President's party who did not take off on the Mount Pinatubo, sends a dispatch to Malacanang stating that Mayor Sergio Osmena, Jr., of Cebu, received a report from his Asturias farm, northwest of Cebu City, that at about 1:30 a.m. a plane was heard with its engine sputtering; Mayor Osmena has started a land, sea, and air search, 6 or 7 small local planes being used.

"Leaders of Congress and members of the Cabinet hold an informal meeting in Malacanang Sunday evening during which Mayor Osmena gets Secretary Balao on the radio-telephone and tells him that the President's plane had reportedly crashed on Mt. Balungan and that one survivor, Nestor Mata, of the Philippines Herald, had been brought to Cebu around 6 o'clock by some people in the area, part of the way by hammock and the rest by bus (they had found him around 7 o'clock that morning), and that some 200 soldiers had been "dispatched to the area who were not expected to arrive at the scene of the accident until midnight as the region is remote and wild and thickly forested; he states that it is still possible there are other survivors and asks for helicopters. Those present at the meeting decide to form a joint executive-legislative committee with Secretary Balao as Chairman, which will fly to Cebu City early tomorrow morning to assist in the situation. Vice-President Garcia had been notified at 8:30 a.m. that the President's plane was missing and advised to return home immediately by Under-Secretary Manglapus, and it was stated at the meeting that the VicePresident would leave Sydney, Australia, at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow on a chartered Qantas Airways plane to arrive in Manila about 4:00 p.m. A Malacanang press release issued at 11 p.m. states that according to interviews with Mata, barrio lieutenant Marcelino Luya and some residents of Sitio Kapio-an, that the President's plane crashed against a mountain, Mt. Manungal, and exploded at about 1:40 a.m.,--"up to now it appears that there are no other survivors". Mata, now at the Southern Islands Hospital, is suffering from 2nd and 3rd degree burns on the face and the upper and lower limbs but is believed to be out of danger. Secretary Balao states that the USN aircraft-carrier Shangrila is proceeding to Cebu with helicopters aboard to arrive at around 8:30 tomorrow morning. 

On March 18, Vice-President Garcia arrived from Australia and was sworn in as the head of state by Chief Justice Ricardo Paras after "President Magsaysay's death has been definitely established by indubitable proof." 

"March 18--The President issues a proclamation declaring March 22, the day set for the funeral, as a special public holiday throughout the Philippines. In another proclamation he declares the period from March 18 to April 17, 1957, as a "period of National mourning for our beloved President" during which the flags of all government buildings and installations throughout the country are to be flown at half-mast. Administrative Order No. 235 creates the committee which is to take charge of the funeral arrangements composed of Messrs. Eulogio Rodriguez, Sr., Jose B. Laurel, Jr., Cesar Bengzon, Cipriano P. Primicias, Lorenzo M. Tanada, Eulogio Balao, Arturo M. Tolentino, Eugenio Perez, Fortunato de Leon, Sergio Osmena, Jr., and Manuel Manahan, with Manuel G. Zamora as Secretary.

"Throughout the day hundreds of messages are received at Malacanang from local persons and entities and from high state officials throughout the world expressing grief and sympathy.

"(According to newspaper reports, the bodies of President Magsaysay and of 25 others who perished in the crash of the presidential plane were brought to Cebu City today by four U. S. Navy helicopters which had to make numerous shuttle trips to and from the 3000-foot high Mt. Manungal. Only 18 bodies have so far been positively identified, the others being burned beyond recognition. The identified were: The President, Secretary of Education Gregorio Hernandez, Jr., Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen, PAF chief, former Senator Tomas Cabili, Representative Pedro Lopez, Maj. Florencio Pobre, the President's pilot, Capt. Manuel Naeva,co-pilot, Eduardo Reyes, security agent, Maj. Ramon Camus, appointments secretary, Jess Paredes, radio announcer, Lt. Leopoldo Regis, aide-de-camp, Pablo Bautista, Liwayway Publications, Cesar Rama, Philippine News Service correspondent, Jesus Rama, brother of Cesar, Paterno Magsaysay, a cousin of the President, Felix Manuel, Malacanang photographer, Sgt. Raymundo Ruiz, radio operator, and Sgt. Alfonso Ibe, chief of crew.

"Bodies not yet positively identified are believed to be those of: Maj. Alfredo Bustamante, who boarded the plane at the last minute and whose name did not appear on previous lists of the plane's passengers, (Patricio Osmena, Malacanang protocol officer, Maj. Felipe Nunag, chief of Malacanang security, Antonio Tiangco, security officer, Sgt. Regino Manuel, and two of the President's valets, Celestino Teves and Jose Sarcilla.)

"March 19- The people of Cebu, led by Governor Jose Briones, six Cebu Congressmen, and Cebu City Mayor Osmena, pay the late President Magsaysay the first public honors at a field pontifical requiem mass beginning at 7:00 a.m. held on the parade grounds of the Headquarters of the Third Military Area, offered for the repose of the souls of the President and his 25 companions who perished with him. Additional honors were rendered as the remains are brought to the airport for airlifting to Manila.

"(Philippine officialdom and a great throng of people, led by President Garcia, are at the Manila airport as the PAF C-47 Bulacan, carrying the remains of the late President and members of the joint legislative-executive committee, lands at 3:30 p.m., and a 21-gun salute is fired. Three other PAF planes and a USAF plane successively bring the remains of 22 others; those of three more, Rep. Pedro Lopez and Jesus and Cesar Rama, were left in Cebu. The crowd breaks through the cordon of guards to touch the President's bronze casket. The casket is carried into Malacanang at 4:55 and religious rites are held immediately afterward conducted by the Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, Msg. Hernando Antiporda; later scores of people are injured as crowds of mourners fight to enter the palace and an extra battalion of soldiers is brought in from Camp Murphy to assist the Palace Guards in controlling the flow of people to the bier.)

 "...President Garcia sends a directive to all provincial governors and city mayors instructing them to come to Manila to attend the funeral services for the late President on March 22.

"March 20-- ...Hundreds of messages of condolence are received at Malacanang from heads of foreign states, foreign ministers, and heads of legislative bodies, as well as from private foreign entities and persons. The message from President Eisenhower reads:

"In the tragic death of President Magsaysay the people of the Philippine Republic as well as those of the United States and the entire free world have lost a valiant champion of freedom. I had been looking forward to meeting with President Magsaysay in Washington to reaffirm the close and affectionate ties all Americans have with his people. A staunch advocate of independence for his people, President Magsaysay was also an active and determined fighter against communism. He will be greatly missed. Mrs. Eisenhower and I extend to his family not only our personal sympathies but also the heartfelt sympathies of all Americans who have lost a good friend."

"President Garcia visits the remains of the late Secretary of Education Hernandez and of others in the various places where they lie in state.

"Lt. Gen. Alfonso Arellano, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines, at necrological services held in Malacanang under the auspices of the AFP and the War Veterans of the Philippines, pledges the Armed Forces will carry on the policies of the late President.

 "March 21 - President Garcia receives the special envoys of seven countries who will represent their respective nations at the funeral ceremonies of President Magsaysay tomorrow ...  The head of each delegation presents the letters of credence and conveys his country's condolences.

"President Garcia gives P50 to each of three persons hurt in the crushing crowd which stormed Malacanang on the 20th when the late President's remains were brought there.

"Press Secretary J. V. Cruz issues a press release stating that Mrs. Magsaysay appreciates various proposals made that she seek public office but that she has no wish or plan, now or at any time in the future to seek political office of any kind; her only desire is to continue to look after her children and supervise the collection and preservation of the late President's papers and other memorabilia and assist, as she can, in worthy civic, charitable, and religious projects.

"March 22 -Early in the morning, the remains of the late President are taken to the Independence Memorial Grandstand on the Luneta, where a pontifical high mass is offered with Mons. Rufino Santos, Archbishop of Manila, officiating. The casket is then taken to the Session Hall of Congress, where orations are delivered by the Apostolic Nuncio, Egidio Vagnozzi, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Rep. Cornelio Villareal, Sen. Lorenzo M. Tanada, Rep. Arturo M. Tolentino, Sen. Cipriano P. Primicias, former President Sergio Osmena, and President Carlos P. Garcia; the response is delivered by Rep. Enrique J. Corpus, of Zambalez, and, for the family, by Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. The funeral procession, passing through dense crowds, takes hours to reach the Cementerio del Norte, where the remains of the President are entombed at 12:45.

And the grief of the nation expressed in these orations delivered in the Session Hall of the Congress of the Philippines, March 22."

Oration

By Carlos P. Garcia

President of the Philippines  

"Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Gentlemen of Congress, Fellow Countrymen:

"In the noon and zenith of his career, in the glory of a triumphant life fully dedicated to the service of the nation, President Ramon Magsaysay passed away from this worldly scene oi action to the infinite realm of immortality. His death, which after all in the higher view is nothing but a transition to eternal life, has succeeded in carrying away the dust of which man is made. But the spirit that was the real Ramon Magsaysay, the personification of faith and love and action that was Ramon Magsaysay, will live iorever in the heart of the nation that he so devotedly served as a leader.

"Our bereaved country and his beloved wife and family have lost in a physical sense the warmth of his personality. The masses of our people have been cut away from the fervent touch of their greatest champion. The free world has been deprived of the physical presence of a steadfast leader in Southeast Asia for the cause of democracy and freedom. But all these bereavements are passing and temporal. The essence of his life and works-made up of the acts of his kindness and generosity, of his sublime courage and patriotism, of his heroism in defense of democracy and freedom, of his zeal in lifting up the common man to new heights of dignity and self-respect, of his relentless crusade against abuses, dishonesty, and corruption-all these will remain as the imperishable glory of the Filipino nation, the pride of the race, and the inspiration of our youth.

"Ramon Magsaysay came to us in the night of crisis to deliver us from the enveloping gloom of a Godless, ruthless, unprincipled ideology. He applied strength where force was inevitable, but at the same time he stretched out a gentle hand to those among our countrymen who might be won back to the ways of freedom. In this manner he dealt to the Communists their first fatal blow in Asia, and we owe it not only to him but to ourselves and to those who will follow us to preserve the precious gains that he has won. 

"In the councils ot nations, Ramon Magsaysay led our people to steadfast and unflinching allegiance to the banners of the free. For him none of the deviousness of the opportunist or the equivocatility of "neutralism." For him and his people the only course to follow was the course of honor and sincerity; the only path to tread was the path of friendship and alliance with the free forces of the free world, particularly the leader and champion thereof, the United States of America. Hence the entire free world deeply mourns the passing of Ramon Magsaysay as attested to by hundreds of messages and speeches abroad and by the presence here of special high representatives of eight heads of state in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and America, in addition to the resident diplomatic representatives in the Philippines who honor this solemn occasion by their presence. In memory of our fallen leader, Ramon Magsaysay, we pledge to our friends of the democratic world that we shall keep Inscription on the late President's tomb. our flag flying high and proudly among the banners of freedom.

"But Ramon Magsaysay's most imperishable works are those that he wrought among the least and lowliest of his people. Neglected and ignored for centuries, untended and uncared for by their leaders, the masses of our country had begun to lose faith and hope in government. Then he came, preaching by word and deed that government was of, for, and by all the people; that those who sat in the seats of the mighty honored themselves best by ministering to the needs of the lowly; that the only justification and supreme purpose of government was to promote the material, social, cultural, and spiritual betterment of the citizens. No wonder that the burst of flame in the moonlight which marked his end was also a searing fire that spread throughout the country, bringing pain and sorrow to the hearts of the masses who had finally found a friend. 

"But weep not, our people. For the glow of Magsaysay's love for the masses, the fire of his zeal to serve and help them shall illumine our ways in the difficult days and years ahead. He shall guide us along the same paths of service and devotion, and we shall follow in his footsteps. And thus shall he continue to live among us, for ten times ten thousand years, for as long as the sun fills with warmth and light this land he loved so much and served so well. May the Almighty receive the soul of our beloved President with His infinite love and mercy, and shower upon his beloved wife, children, parents, and other members of his family the abundance of His blessings." 

Oration

By Sergio Osmena

Former President of the Philippines 

"The death of Ramon Magsaysay has left us a profoundly sorrowing people. Yet, our grief seems somehow lightened by the fact that the entire free world sincerely shares our acute sense of irreparable loss. May I therefore venture to hope, as I once more extend my heartfelt condolence to his deeply grieving family, that the sharing of their heartbreaking grief by all our people, as well as by the free world, may somehow help them bear their bereavement.

"Ramon Magsaysay burst into public life like a fresh wind after a long, suffocating day. He died in the night while his people, once more enjoying security and cnce more full of hope, peacefully slept. They woke up in the morning to discover with a shock and to grieve with a broken heart over their sudden misfortune.

"But when we have dried up our tears, we Filipinos shall realize that, while Ramon Magsaysay is indeed no more, the boons he has sought and achieved will remain forever with us. By his deeds he has left a better place in which to live, not only his own country but also much of the free world. Leaving others to enumerate and elaborate upon his many achievements, I shall limit myself only to tracing the outline of the vastness and massiveness o, the debt to him of our people and of the other peoples of the free world.

"Ramon Magsaysay is one of the immortal heroes of democracy. Not only did he save his own nation from being victimized, as many other nations have been victimized, by Communist subversion and aggression, but he f also gave the free world an inspiration and an example to follow in its struggle unto death against ruthless Communism.

"When Ramon Magsaysay broke the back of the Communist-led rebellion in the Philippines, he also convinced other peoples, similarly threatened, that they, too, could win over Communist aggression. His effective method of handling dissidents, with both force and understanding, has since been successfully followed by other countries with similar problems of subversion.

"When Ramon Magsaysay was justly rewarded for his great labors by his election with an overwhelming majority to the highest position within the gift of his countrymen, he set about to apply yet another lesson he had learned from his experiences with rebellious masses. He focused the greatest effort and emphasis of his administration on rural reconstruction and rehabilitation, wisely conceiving this task the logical key to the country's entire economic and democratic progress.

"Ramon Magsaysay passed away before his tremendous project had reached full fruition. Within his limited time, he nevertheless succeeded in giving it momentum and direction. There is now no stopping its progress and completion. It is so right, so logical, and so statesman-like that his memory and Divine Providence will guide us to its ultimate consummation.

"Thus, in the death of Ramon Magsaysay, we have acquired a great heritage and a great responsibility. In following his example and contributing what we can to the long-range task of nation-building which he began, we not only shall erect, out of his own blueprint, an enduring monument to his memory, but shall also ourselves contribute to the happiness of our people, the progress of our democracy, and the stature of our Republic.

"In His infinite wisdom, the Almighty has removed from this life our beloved leader. Ramon Magsaysay is no more. But the fruits of his wise statesmanship will henceforward enrich our lives, and his memory will forever be gratefully enshrined in our hearts."

Sources:

• Garcia, Carlos P. (1957, April). Ramon Magsaysay: Oration. Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.  33(4):156. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aaj0523.1957.001

• Osmena, Sergio. (1957, April).  Ramon Magsaysay: Oration. Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.  33(4):156. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aaj0523.1957.001

• Official Sources. (1957, April.  The Business View/The Government. Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.  33(4):168-171. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aaj0523.1957.001