Formal education in my old hometown, San Narciso in Zambales

The names of 18 schoolboys and their fathers from the 

barangay of Don Clemente Jose in the 1846 petition.

(Source: Ereccion de Pueblos. SDS-14126. National 

Archives of the Philippines)

We can say that the documented history of formal education in San Narciso started on 22 February 1846 when the fathers of 104 Alasiis schoolboys sent a petition to Fr. Nicolas Martinez, parish priest of Yba and Vicar Forane of Zambales, imploring that they be allowed to hire maestro Don Julian Dias Ronquillo of Subic. 

The fathers wanted their sons to be taught their Christian duties-- ‘walang nalalaman unang-una sa katungkulan ng taong Christiano’—but they were worried about their safety as they walk the miles to the school in Cabangan. Hence, they wanted a maestro-in-residence.

Don Julian became the first teacher of Alasiis and of San Narciso town after its creation from the five Ilocano barrios between Cabangan and Uguit.

Education of the ‘Indians’ was a directive of the royal decree of 05 June 1574. This was iterated by the Raon Ordinance No. 93 of 26 February 1768: “it is strictly ordered that the [the provincial governors] request [the priests] … to establish schoolmasters in all villages, who shall teach the Indians to read and write in Spanish, and the Christian doctrine and other prayers.”

Almost a century later, the general system of primary schools in the country was established by the royal decree of 20 December 1863. The Normal School was founded; secondary schools and colleges followed.

The escuelas, separate for boys (niños) and girls (niñas), were under the control of the municipal government. There were no school infrastructures as we see today.

Teachers were appointed by the authorities in Manila. One of the early ‘maestros de escuela publica de instruccion primaria [teachers of the public school for primary education]’ of San Narciso was Don Jose Ferriols, a 23-years old Spanish mestizo from San Felipe who graduated from the Normal School. He had taught for three years when he was appointed to the post in San Narciso in August 1871.

Don Juan Posadas, another graduate of the Normal School, was appointed as the town school teacher in April 1874 with a monthly salary of sixty pesetas. He served uninterrupted for thirteen years, which was more than the mandatory ten for Normal graduates. In 1888, he asked permission to resign because of poor health: chronic anemia and palpitation of the heart.

There were women teachers for the girls like Dna. Anastacia Garcia (1870s) and Dna. Telesfora Calimlim (1880s).

In 1896, Don Simeon de Villanueva y Pobre, a native of San Narciso, proposed to establish a private school here. He spent five years of secondary education at the University of Sto. Tomas from 1880 to 1885.

“For many years,” he wrote to the Governor-General, “it was my constant desire to open in San Narciso, my own hometown, a private school for adults, teaching in it the rudimentary elements of primary education, but putting more interest in the teaching of the Spanish language.” His petition was endorsed by the parish priest Fr. Francisco Moreno and the principalia headed by Capitan Municipal Rufino Fernandez. Don Simeon’s dream was not realized.

The American occupation brought a new educational system with English as medium for instruction. In 1902, the department of public instruction was re-organized as the Bureau of Education.  Teachers from America--collectively called 'Thomasites'--were spread throughout the archipelago to head school districts and to teach using primers and textbooks from America.   

The Americans set up the prototype of Philippine schools designed by William Parsons. The Philippine Assembly Act 1801 in 1908 appropriated US1-million to construct the so-called Gabaldon schoolhouses named after Assemblyman Isauro Gabaldon, author of that law.

Gabaldon school building plan of West Central (San Rafael-Natividad) Elem. School.
(Source: Bulletin No. 37-1912. School Buildings and Grounds. Bureau of Education)

The first public school building of San Narciso was for the ‘Central School’ built with an appropriation of P5,000 in 1912. It followed the bureau’s standard plan No. 10. This could be the Gabaldon building of West Central (now San Rafael-Natividad Elem. School), the first public school of the town according to oral and written accounts.

Construction begun on 03 April 1913 under a local foreman. “The building was completed inside of four calendar months at a total cost of P18,602.88,” the Bureau of Public Works reported, “including all surcharges, by administration, under a native foreman, the estimated cost being P21,000 and the appropriation P20,000.”  Don Teodoro R. Yangco, a well-known philanthropist of that time, donated P5,000 as part of the cost.

The school was formally inaugurated on 28 November 1913. It was a big event, according to the Bureau of Public Works Bulletin: “It being school holidays from the 27th to the end of the month, all the students of the Iba high school, over 200 strong, the pupils from Yangco school, San Felipe, and Olongapo, and a big crowd of citizens from all over the province and some provincial officials, all came down to San Narciso to witness the grand dedication of the school. … The most notable events were the various athletic meets, in which the students showed no less school spirit in rooting and singing for their teams than in the [United] States, and the elder folks forgot their customary visits to the cockpits. “

Secondary education was offered later, and those who desired it initially went to the provincial high school in Iba.

Alma mater of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay.

The first private high school of the town—Zambales Academy—was established in 1922. This was brought about by the difficulty of transportation to Iba, the increasing number of students tending to crowd the provincial high school, and the inability of that high school to accommodate all those who want to get a secondary education.

After the Second World War, Zambales Academy opened a college department offering education and secretarial courses. Its education graduates taught at elementary schools in the town and province.

In the late 1960’s, the school was sold to the joint venture of the Philippine Episcopal Church and the Philippine Independent Church.

The enterprising couple--Luis Abiva and his wife Asuncion Quiray—put up the Abiva High School before the outbreak of World War II. After the war, according to reports, Mrs. Abiva allowed a group of prominent town citizens to operate the school, renamed San Narciso Cooperative Commercial High School.  It became Zambales Commercial High School later, which was changed to Magsaysay Memorial Institute (MMI) in honor of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay after his death.

The Columbans acquired MMI in 1951. This was the first of the Catholic schools that the religious order established from Olongapo to Sta. Cruz. In 1962, the high school was incorporated into the Magsaysay Memorial College (MMC) with the addition of the elementary and college department.

The curricular structure of the elementary and secondary schools has transformed into the K-12 program, which added two years—the senior high school—to old system. These additional years provide pre-college tracks for the students to choose from: ABM (Accountancy, Business and Management), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), HUMSS (Humanities and Social Science), and General Academic. Other tracks enable the students to work after graduation: Arts and Design, Sports and TVL.

Secondary education is offered by the private Zambales Academy and Magsaysay Memorial College and the public national high schools of La Paz and Namatacan. 

While MMC provides viable collegiate courses like education for high school graduates, the Philippine Merchant Academy (PMMA) beckons to those who are inclined to pursue careers in marine transportation and marine engineering.

Graduating cadet from San Narciso in PMMA Class 2017.

PMMA, which relocated from Fort Bonifacio to San Narciso in 1998, dates back to 1820 when it was created as Escuela Nautica de Manila. Juan Luna, its most famous alumnus, was 17 years old when he graduated as Piloto de Altos Mares (Pilot of the High Seas) in 1874. Its transformation from Philippine Nautical School to PMMA in 1963 has produced midshipmen/women, and merchant marine officers in shipboard and offshore positions as shipping executives and technical consultants.

Today, there are fifteen public, and four private and sectarian, elementary schools. Three public national, and two private, schools offer secondary education. High school graduates of the town and other municipalities go to MMC for collegiate courses, or to PMMA (if they pass the rigid entrance examinations) for maritime studies.

Education has brought Narcisenians to prominence here in the country and in foreign lands. Their contribution, in many ways, have brought changes in the social, cultural and economic fabric of San Narciso. 

It's Ylang-ylang season!

We've been making quick trips to our hometown San Narciso in Zambales recently, and we've been picking the yellow ylang-ylang flowers from the low-lying branches of the Floresca tree near the town plaza, putting some in the side pocket of our backpack for the refreshing scent to accompany us during the four-hour bus ride back to Manila, and carrying a bagful of them to deodorize the air around the house in the city.

We can't help being most nostalgic of the ylang-ylang blossoms from a mighty tall tree by the foot of the stairs of the big house of the Valdez family for the junior-senior prom and graduation day garlands during our happy high school days at the Zambales Academy, which the Valdezes owned.  A beautiful young lady lived there, our classmate Aida, granddaughter of the patriarch Felixberto; and that's why we had free access to the flowers, although it wasn’t easy gathering them.

That tree might have already been old during our teens; it would take more than three pairs of hands to spread around and embrace the huge trunk. We thought then that it was the only ylang-ilang tree in the whole town.

The Valdez house is now sadly ravaged by time and the elements, its majesty all gone. Alas, only the memory of the tree remains.

All these came to mind when we chanced upon the ylang-ylang of more than a century ago, in the September 1872 issue of The Appleton’s Journal of Literature, Science and Art, which informs that ‘six or eight years ago [c1866] a new perfume, in the shape of a "handkerchief extract," was introduced [in the United States] from England, bearing the curious name of Ylang-ylang, or, as perhaps more properly spelled, Ihlang-ihlang.’   

At the earliest then, the scent wafted on American air in 1864 a few years ahead of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris where “M. Rimmel exhibited the ihlang-ihlang flower preserved in glycerine ... a veritable flower, produced by a large tree known to botanists as the Unona odoratissima. This tree is a native of Malaisia [sic][Malaya?], or the islands of the Indian Archipelago.  Ihlang-ihlang is a native name, signifying the ‘flower of flowers.’”

Literature attaches another meaning to ilang-ilang - ‘‘wilderness.”  Supposedly from names of Philippine origin, the ‘flower of flowers’ comes from alang-alang or alanguilan, and the second from a Tagalog word, which we are more inclined to accept, since ‘ilang’ is the familiar term for far, unreachable places.  Ilang-ilang happens to be the Indonesian term for ‘loosely hanging,’ which aptly describes the flowers too.

Accounts say that the first information about the tree came from the English botanist John Ray (1628-1705) who gave it the name ‘Arbor Saguisan,’ said to be what it was called in Luçon [Luzon?]. Other botanists gave Ylang-ylang different appellations - Bonga cananga, Canang odorant, Uvaria odorata, Unona odorata, and Unona odoratissima - which finally evolved into the preferred name Cananga odorata.  In his Notes on Cananga Oil, or Ylang-ylang Oil in the March 1881 issue of the American Journal of Pharmacy, Prof. F.A. Fluckiger attributed the superlative odoratissima to Fr. Francis Manuel Blanco, OSA, who described the intense perfume to cause headaches in a closed sleeping apartment. Fr. Blanco wrote the popular book Flora de Manila around 1880.  

Left, illustration from Blanco's Flores de Manila (c1880); Right, from Blume's Flora Javae (1881),

Nobody knows for sure where the plant originated. The contention is that it originated from the Philippines and found habitat ‘in Indonesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia,’ which means it has spread out worldwide.  In 1797, the plant was brought from Sumatra to India, in the botanical garden of Calcutta.  Captain d'Etcherouy of France brought the ylang ylang to Reunion in 1770. At around that time too, the plant reached Madagascar particularly Nosi-be and the Comoros islands. 

Today, there are large plantations in the Mayotte island between Madagascar and Mozambique for the production of ylang-ylang oil, a vital base ingredient in the scent industry. 

The Appleton’s Journal had this to say about the beginning of the ylang-ylang oil industry  –

"The flowers were first distilled by a chemist at Manila, and yielded an ottar [sic][attar?], or essential oil, representing their delightful odor in a state of great concentration. This ottar was exhibited, probably for the first time in Europe, at the Exposition of 1867.

"Ottar of ihlang-ihlang is now largely distilled at Manila and at Singapore. It is a yellow liquid, not quite as heavy as water, and possesses, as before noted, the characteristic fragrance of the flower. It is very costly, being valued even higher than the precious ottar of roses. The wholesale price of oil of ihlang-ihlang is, at present, in the London market, about two pounds per ounce, and in this country fifteen dollars, or at the rate of two hundred and forty dollars per pound."

The chemist could be that sailor stranded in Manila in 1860, one Albert Schwenger, who operated a mobile still. The large consignments to Paris and London by 1864, wrote Fluckiger, were from Manila ‘where German pharmacists occupied themselves with the distillation of the oil.’ By 1900, the Philippines had a monopoly on the ylang-ylang oil production but the First World War put an end to it; Europe, the biggest market, was paralyzed by war. Botica Boie produced and exported it as Manila oil, believed to be the finest of oils produced here.

In 1923, Coco Chanel and her business partner Ernest Beaux, introduced Chanel N°5, which had ylang-ylang oil as the base ingredient. It became very popular, and millions of bottles have been sold since then.  After that, so many other perfumes with an ylang-ylang base were produced. 

Perfumes and colognes with ylang-ylang as of 2009.

There's one that carries the flower in its label, Amarige Ylang Ylang de Mayotte 2006, in the Givenchy collection of 2007, the oil base reported to have come from the best harvest of the Mayotte islands plantations in 2006.

There had been government encouragements to revive the ylang-ylang oil industry.  In fact, the local government of Anao, Tarlac began transforming their town into "Ylang-Ylang Country" in 1989, and their One Town One Product initiative of 2003 was geared to produce the valuable extract sought by the local manufacturers of scented products like perfumes, aromatic soaps, shampoos, lotions, and even candles.

We know that herbalists have also introduced ylang-ylang tea into the market.

Reports say that French fashion house Yves St. Laurent was importing ylang-ylang flowers from the Philippines for more than twenty years, then brought the plant to America, set up plantations, and secured a patent for its perfume formula based on the ylang-ylang oil. 

Our favorite flower children in the neighborhood gasoline station do not know YSL and his ylang-ylang scented perfumes.  Suffice to say that we're happy with the thought that when we buy those sampaguita leis with a bunch of dangling fresh and sweet yellow ylang-ylang flowers they will be able to buy something to put on their table for a late supper with their siblings.

 

References: 

 

Author unknown.  (1872, September 7).  Ylang-ylang.  Appleton’s Journal of Literature, Science and Art. 53(180), 273 Retrieved from Making of America Journal Articles at http://quod.lib.umich.edu.

Chanel Offial Site. History of No. 5. Retrieved from http://uma.chanel.com/fragrances/n05.php 

Fluckiger, F.A.  (1881, March).  Notes on Cananga Oil. Or Ylang-Ylang Oil.  American Journal of Pharmacy.  53(3), 6-8.  Retrieved from http://www.swsbm.com/AJP/AJP_1881_No_3.pdf 

Market Manila. Ilang-ilang / Perfume Tree Flowers.  Retrieved from http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/ilang-ilang-perfume-tree-flowers 

Region III: Tarlac / Ylang Ylang oil of Anao. Retrieved from http://www.otopphilippines.gov.ph/microsite.aspx?rid=3&provid=37&prodid=29 

Sun on Petals of Ylang Ylang. Fragrantica. Retrieved from http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Ylang-Ylang-24.html and http://www.fragrantica.com/news/Sun-on-Petals-of-Ylang-Ylang-Welcoming-Givenchy-Amarige-Ylang-Ylang-de-Mayotte-466.html 

Tabb. W.K.  (2000, January).  The World Trade Organization? Stop World Takeover. Monthly Review.  Retrieved from http://www.monthlyreview.org/100tabb.htm 

Ylang- Ylang "Flower of Flowers".  Article published in the Aromatherapy Times. (Vol. 1 No 61) - International Federation of Aroma-therapists Professional magazine - www.ifaroma.org. Retrieved from Nicole Perez School of Holistic Aromatherapy at http://www.holisticaroma.co.uk/articles/ylang_ylang.php

Historical pictures from:   

Blume. (1881, Mar). Flora Javae. American Journal of Pharmacy. 53(3). 

Blanco, F.M. OSA. (c1880.). Plate 221, Flora de Manila. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia/wiki/ Cananga_odorata_Blanco1.221.png

Remembrance of English-speaking teachers past

Lucinda (Philippine Republic, 1925) wrote that this picture would "show to American school boys and girls that the little Filipino children start out just like we here in the United States."

We could have been in Grade 1 when we were six years old but we could not reach our left ear with the right hand over our head, supposed to be the test of school-readiness of kids in our time. We were taken in as saling-pusa (sit-in), which was more than being in the kindergarten or prep-school now.  When we began our formal education the next year, we could already read the slim Pepe and Pilar primer ("I am Pepe. I am a little boy.") even without looking at the pages.  There was no need for us to learn how to write; we were taught that at home as early as when we could hold a pencil.

Almost everyone knew or related to each other in our coastal hometown in Zambales when technology has not yet transformed the world into one global village.  Outside the schoolyard, teachers could be aunts, uncles, lolo or lola. Our saling-pusa and then Grade 1 teacher was our father's spinster first cousin.

Schoolboys 1901. (Source:  University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.)

Townmates knew the teachers very well, and most admired (and sympathized with) were those who took assignments up in the mountain barrios, which they reached at great risk by fording the wide, swift Sto. Tomas river every day during the rainy season.  They clung to ropes held at the ends by brawny men of the barrios while others carried their bags or guided them through the turbulent waters. 

Surigao schoolgirls and teachers 1901. (Source: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.)

We were the generation who were taught in English all the way from Grade 1 to the university, whether the subject was arithmetic, history, geography, industrial arts or good manners and right conduct (GMRC, now an extinct subject). Every school day morning started with our singsong "Good morning, teacher," and during flag ceremonies, we sang "Land of the Morning" and recited the patriotic pledge ("I love the Philippines, it is the land of my birth ..."). 

Those were the days when teachers could still get away for pinching us on the thigh or pulling our ears.  We took it lightly that our industrial arts teacher whacked our bottoms with a meter-long one-inch-wide bamboo slat for not bringing materials for weaving baskets or making chairs. We'd prepare beforehand by padding our behind with our notebooks even if we knew the whips were usually very light.

Our elementary school teachers either went to the Philippine Normal School/College [PNC] or to the Zambales Academy, a private high school which offered the normal course before the second world war and into the 1950s.  Many of our classmates in high school aspired "to join the noble profession" and enrolled at PNC.

Although we did not take up the normal course, we taught mathematics (in English, of course) at the local Catholic high school during the first four years of the martial law regime.  The principal, a product of St. Louis U in Baguio, was our senior class adviser at the Zambales Academy six years earlier.  It was she who taught us to appreciate reading the classics, initiated us to writing, and mentored us for our first bout in public speaking, an oratorical contest in English on the theme "I speak for democracy."

We remember getting ribbed by older kinfolks that they speak better English than us, they who went to the public schools in the 1920s and 1930s.  They were of the generation when Filipino teachers had fully replaced the Thomasites, Dorics and other American teachers whose batch names were derived from the ships they took in coming here in the public schools.

Their teachers could have been among the first trainees who went through a radical crash course in teaching in English under American teachers as soon as the public school system was set up in the early 1900s.  In his annual report of 1904, the General Superintendent of Education wrote about the  "[b]right, intelligent young men and women [who] were selected and organized in a teachers' class. Many of them, after only a few months of English instruction, commenced teaching their pupils with an English chart and an English primer."

"Not only were they entirely ignorant of English in the beginning," he further described, "but their knowledge of the fundamental subjects of arithmetic, geography, and history was also very small. In their own instruction by the American teacher they could be kept but little in advance of the pupils in their classes. Frequently the teacher taught one week what he himself had acquired only the week preceding. Such a system of instruction, to be of any value at all, naturally had to be accompanied by the constant assistance, supervision, and instruction of the American teacher. Surprising to say, the Filipino teacher under this method has made progress far in advance of anything that could have been anticipated. Many of those now employed are very fair instructors in the subjects falling within the primary course. They have developed well as disciplinarians. School rooms in charge of Filipino teachers are now almost invariably quiet and well ordered. The daily program is carried through on time and successfully. What perhaps is more gratifying than anything else, is the reliability and fidelity they show to their work and their increasing professional pride."

There were also annual normal institutes for further training of teachers from the provinces, the first one held in Manila in April-May 1901.  These institutes brought about the construction of the Teachers Camp in Baguio. "The method of presenting the subject, teaching with the use of objects, the conduct of English conversation, etc., [were] explained with great care and the teachers drilled in these methods. ... [T]he Filipino teachers ... left these institutes with new conceptions of school management and of teaching, with great enthusiasm, and with the assured feeling that the Government was seeking to raise their efficiency and value. Each year the results have told in raising the quality of primary instruction."

Pilipino was not yet officially the national language, and the debate for its use as medium of instruction was still light years away.  In our time it was already in the high school curriculum in all levels plus a Spanish course in the senior year.   

But before the local dialect and/or Pilipino came into the elementary school classrooms, "[p]rimary instruction [was] conducted entirely in the English language. More than this, the conversation of the class room  [was] in English. The Filipino teacher [was] carefully instructed to address even the smallest pupil in short English sentences, discarding almost entirely the use of the native dialect from the beginning, in order to familiarize the child immediately with spoken English. ...The American supervising teacher spen[t] only a few minutes a week in the class ... occupied very largely with the correction of errors of grammar and mistakes of pronunciation, or in the method of presentation by the teacher, but in spite of this fact the little boys and girls who have received instruction practically only from a Filipino teacher have acquired a correct pronunciation of English and are able to speak with fair regard to grammatical rules."

The General Superintendent of Education (1904) noted that under those conditions, the Filipino child who was "an exceedingly apt learner and possesse[d] natural ability in the acquisition of languages" --which we think is still true today despite the deluge of so many courses in the elementary grades--made marvelous progress in learning the English language. 

The Department of Education is adding two more years to the 10 years of elementary and secondary schooling to become K-12 like most parts of the world.  The rationale seems to be 'global competitiveness' of Philippine graduates in the international job market.  This also explains why our college graduates have to enroll in undergraduate courses in foreign universities before they can do their post-graduate work. 

We do not know how English will be tackled under the K-12 system.  In the global market, non-English-speaking countries have become economic powers and learning particular languages like Nippongo, Mandarin, and Spanish even may be better choices.

Even beauty queens need not speak English to win an international crown now, do they? Learn English or other tongues and speak your mind in your own language.  That should be it.

The teacher and her class in an advertisement in the 1920s.  Source:  Duke University Digital Collections.

References:

• Bureau of Education. (1904, Sep). The Filipino Teacher.  Annual Report of the General Superintendent of Education. Manila:  Bureau of Printing.   Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ACS9512.1904.001 

• Lucinda. (1925, Sep). Illustration of Philippine School Life. The Philippine Republic.Washington D.C. 2(9):22.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acc6198.1924.001

Photo Credits:

• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Philippines Images Collection in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections at http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/SEAiT

• Duke University Digital Collections at http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/?keyword=Philippines

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