Will there be Martial Law? January 30, 1971

January 30, 1971

Will There Be Martial Law?
By Napoleon G. Rama
Staff Member

HIS theme was sobriety and unity in the hour of crisis; his delivery, cool and slow; his tone, soft and supplicating. But the words were intimidating.

“If violence continues, if there should be massive sabotage, if there should be terrorism, if there is assassination, I will have no other alternative but to utilize the extraordinary powers granted me by our Constitution. These powers are the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus under which [suspension] any man can be arrested and detained any length of time; and the power to declare any part or the whole of the Philippines under martial law. These powers I do not wish to utilize and it is for this reason I appeal to our people tonight.�?

With just this one paragraph President Marcos spoiled what could have been one of his best speeches, certainly the most impressive TV performance since he spoke before the U.S. Congress.

Our issue for April 1, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS

April 1, 2006 Issue

Main Features

1.Cover: Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, Day of Reckoning

The dismissal of the impeachment complaints, the mailed-fist policy against protest rallies, the obstruction of the Arroyo tapes investigation in the House, Executive Order 464, Proclamation No. 1017, the continuing harassment of opposition leaders, the intimidation of the press—all these will come to a confluence and, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon says, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will her “day of reckoning.�? The military is a veritable tinder box and despite Gen. Generoso Senga’s five-point “guidance�? Biazon, a former Marine commander and chief of the military who still has connections in the armed forces, knows the ranks are seething with anger. The administration had better be careful with handling the “case�? of former senator Gregorio Honasan who, according to Biazon, has a following in the military and in the civilian populace who may react if the government insists on putting Honasan away. Honasan has denied involvement in the July 27, 2003 junior officers’ mutiny, but he is a veteran of the coup attempts against the government of President Corazon Aquino and he has gone into hiding since the government brought coup d’ état charges against him in February. The military is bringing charges against Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim before a court-martial for planning to lead the Scout Rangers in a march with the people on February 24, an action construed by the military and the administration as a coup. Under investigation and possibly facing charges is Col. Ariel Querubin for leading the Marines in protesting the relief of their commander, Brig. Gen. Renato Miranda, on February 26. The military is investigating the extent of the action that had been planned against Mrs. Arroyo. Senga, who reportedly refused to join the march, says in his “guidance�? that the military should be apolitical and the troops must defend the Constitution. Biazon says Mrs. Arroyo, by proclaiming a state of national emergency and even after lifting it continues to intimidate the opposition and the press, has violated the Constitution. He says it is time to remind the soldiers that “anyone who violates the Constitution is your enemy.�?

By Ricky S. Torre

Our issue for March 25, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS

March 25, 2006 Issue

Main Features

1.Cover: The Constitutional Commission (with 10-page supplement, Office of the

President)

2. Abuse of Power

The Senate has opened an investigation into the acts of the government following President Arroyo’s declaration of national emergency. What has emerged from the investigation so far is that the government carried out the proclamation as if Mrs. Arroyo had declared martial law. Since the country was not under martial law and since the Bill of Rights had not been suspended, police should not have broken up protest rallies, arrested people without warrants, and intimidated the press. Former Supreme Court justice Vicente Mendoza, testifying at the hearing on Monday, said Mrs. Arroyo would be liable if it could be proved that she authorized these acts. A group of lawyers also warned Mrs. Arroyo that she could not escape responsibility should those acts turn out to have been arbitrary—which they appear to be because the emergency proclamation gave no orders to either the military or the police to do anything that would violate people’s rights. All the arbitrary acts of the military and the police appear to have been carried out on a misunderstanding of General Order No. 5 and General Order No. 6—or on direct orders from some administration official. If it was Mrs. Arroyo, can she be prosecuted? Nope. You cannot sue a sitting president. You must wait until after she leaves office before you bring your lawsuit. Impeachment? Hmm: the Constitution allows the president to place the country or any part of it under a state of emergency but unless it can be proved that Mrs. Arroyo used the proclamation to violate the Bill of Rights, she cannot be held liable for violating the Constitution. Proclamation No. 1017 and General Orders 5 and 6 seem to have been written as generalizations, that is, without specifics that, if violative of the Constitution, can be blamed on Mrs. Arroyo. Add roundup.

By Ricky S. Torre, Butch Serrano, and Wendell Vigilia

A blunder worse than a crime. Editorial for September 25, 1909

Saturday, September 25, 1909

A blunder worse than a crime

IN SUCH category, we very much fear, must be included the action of the Chief Executive in cutting off the government’s advertising appropriation from El Renacimiento.

By the Chief Executive’s action the government is placed in the humiliating position of confessing that it has suffered from the periodical’s criticism. If there is any justification for the saying that “it is the truth that hurts”, the government is further placed in the position of admitting that the criticism has been true, and that the truth has rankled. The action of the government will be interpreted as a confession of weakness. And, far from crippling El Renacimiento, it will simply tend to strengthen it.

It is a common remark among Americans that El Renacimiento is the organ of the “demagogues” and “politicos”, but those best acquainted with that newspaper and its clientele know that it is much more than that—that it is the chief organ of the Filipino people, that it comes closer to them than any other, that it more truly voices their aspirations—that it is THE PEOPLE. The government is thus placed in the position of striking not only at El Renacimiento, but striking at the Filipino people, and using the money of the people to do it.

Further, the government is placed in the position of admitting that the money of the people spent in the form of advertising appropriations is nothing more than a bribe to the newspapers here to keep hands off the government. It is confessedly an effort to corrupt and stifle a free press. The presumption is that the government has its notices published for the benefit of the people, and, as there is no Filipino paper with one half the circulation of El Renacimiento, the government stultifies itself and by its action confirms the belief that the money is not spent for publicity purposes or as a business proposition but solely as a bribe to silence criticism and promote sycophantic adulation. Truly a most edifying picture!

The Constitution speaks. February 12, 1972

February 12, 1972

The Constitution Speaks
Luningning Cruz
Second-year Student
Quirino High School,
Quezon City

I AM the Constitution of the Philippines. I am different things to different people.

To some, I am a mere scrap of paper—a string of words beautifully woven without meaning, a flow of phrases attempting to articulate a hope too vague to grasp, a litany of praise to some ideal impossible to realize—a piece of paper on which are written only words, words, words.

To others, I am a sacred vessel—the repository of the highest hopes and aspirations of a people, the blessed covenant between the governors and the governed, the master plan of a people’s search for justice and a better life, the nation’s guard against oppression and the people’s ultimate expression of their sovereignty.

I am the Constitution—and I am neither one nor the other of these two opposite points of view.

And the January 30 Insurrection, February 7, 1970

February 7, 1970

And the January 30 Insurrection
–Jose F. Lacaba

JANUARY 26 seemed explosive enough—but it was a whimper compared with the horrendous bang of January 30. The papers called January 26 a riot. January 30 was something else. “This is no longer a riot,�? said a police officer. “This is an insurrection.�? And the President called it a revolt—“a revolt by local Maoist Communists.�?

January 26 was a Monday. On Tuesday the students met to plan a series of new rallies denouncing police brutality, and the President conferred with police officials. On Wednesday the President had a talk with some student leaders in Malacañang. On Thursday four groups of demonstrators, one of them led by U.P. President S. P. Lopez himself, staged simultaneous demonstrations at Malacañang, Congress, and Maharnilad. On Friday several other student groups held a sit-in outside the Malacañang gates—and just as their manifestation was about to end, all hell broke loose.

The Long Week, February 7, 1970

February 7, 1970

The Long Week
By Kerima Polotan

Bombs, Guns, Stones—Violence, Hate, Death.

1.
WHEN THE WEEK began, it seemed to hold no surprises. The country had seen how many Congresses open before and except for a mugginess in the afternoon, rare in January, the Seventh held no special portents. The young had, of course, taken over the streets and were on Ayala Street, thrusting leaflets at passerby: An Appeal for a Non-Partisan Constitutional Convention. All week the week before, they’d been pretty busy, demonstrating in front of Malacañang. A particularly “militant” group had roughed up an army sergeant moonlighting as a photographer; they had peppered the air with elegant language, the accepted idiom of student activism, amplified many decibels with the aid of loudspeakers, language like: Putang ina mo! Ikaw Marcos, bumaba ka rito, napakayabang mo, 27 ang medalya mo, halika nga dito at tignan natin ang galing mo! I am from Cabiao, kung talagang matapang ka, bumaba ka rito at papatayin ka namin! x x x

Bukas, ang aabutin mo rito kung akala mo ay minura ka na, ay hindi pa namin naaabot ang pagmumura sa iyo. Mumurahin ka namin ng gabi. Putang ina mo x x x Putang ina ninyong mga Americans kayo, sino ang pupuntahan ninyo diyan, ang demonyong Presidente namin? ‘Yang gagong Pangulo namin diyan, bakit ninyo pupuntahan, gago naman iyan?

“Spontaneous” demonstrations. Editorial for March 5, 1949

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS EDITORIAL
March 5, 1949

“SPONTANEOUS” DEMONSTRATIONS

One man, observing the demonstration last Saturday night at Plaza Miranda, Manila, by students from the different universities and colleges of Manila and members of labor organizations and venders associations, estimated at more than 20,000, wondered how decent men and women could declare themselves for a man who represented all that is iniquitous in the government. For the object of the “spontaneous” demonstration, the man in whose defense the rally was held, was none other than Jose Avelino.

Yes, Jose Avelino, the same man who had taxed the President of their country with not covering up, or at least tolerating, abuses and anomalies by party men in the government, who would led a gang of unprincipled men rob the people at will—with impunity. Yes, the same Jose Avelino, who while in office amassed riches he had yet to explain. The very same man who, while invoking the Constitution in his need, had trampled on it in the past, denying to others the right to speak which be now claimed. The one and the same person who, crying for due process of law, had allegedly secretly sought to destroy that process by dictating, or attempting to dictate, to the courts.

It was in “honor” of this man that the demonstration was held. Shocking indictment of the sense of probity of the people of the capital! But there had been such demonstrations in the past, equally impressive and just as “spontaneous.” Who has not read of demonstrations hailing the arrival of some official from abroad—demonstrations by meek and subservient government employees who must be present, or else! No doubt there were those sincerely “for” Avelino in that mob in Plaza Miranda last week for in the past Avelino had dispensed favors liberally, if not illegally. And there were those present out of curiosity. And if students hailed Avelino’s name during that rally, it should also be recalled that students in a “homecoming” at Avelino’s alma mater, the Ateneo de Manila, had booed his name.

And, of course, one remembers the demonstrations for the cruelest oppressors of the Filipino people in history, who had robbed, murdered and raped for three terrible years: the Japanese. Those demonstrations, by the reports in the papers then in circulation, were “spontaneous,” too.

Honorable Gentleman’s Agreement? March 20, 1971

March 20, 1971

Honorable Gentlemen’s Agreement?

WHATEVER happened to the list of Delinquent Oligarchs released by Malacañang in its frantic effort to project an image of President Marcos as the leader of a Revolt of the Masses against the Rich, working, idle or profligate? That the little Goebbels of the Military Kickback Complex would succeed in their propaganda gimmickry is too absurd to consider even for a moment. Marcos as Man of the Masses—who can swallow that? Only the Insecure Oligarchs were bothered, but only for a moment.

Just the same, the release of the list was a good thing. The people knew who, among the Rich, owed them—and how much. It should also have served to prod the honorable members of Congress to look into the alleged delinquency and enact remedial legislation to prevent its recurrence and salvage what could be salvaged of the government’s, that is, the people’s investment in the controversial enterprise.

This is to assume that the senators and representatives give a damn about what happens to the people’s money.

The question is: Do they?

Nestor Mata’s story, April 6, 1957

Nestor Mata’s story
April 6, 1957
by Leon O. Ty
The lone survivor of the Mt. Pinatubo airplane crash in which President Magsaysay and 25 other persons perished gives his version of the tragedy. Newsman has second and third degree burns on thighs, arms and legs

PHILIPPINES Herald Reporter Nestor Mata, the lone survivor in the Mt. Pinatubo airplane crash in which President Magsaysay and 25 other persons perished, is still confined in the Veterans Memorial Hospital. He is fast recovering from second and third degree burns all over his body. We visited him last Saturday afternoon. As soon as he saw us, he said in a low voice:

“You are lucky you were not with us.”

Mata said these words because he personally knew that this writer had always been with him and the rest of the Malacañang newspapermen who used to accompany the late President on nearly all his trips to Mindanao and Visayas.

“You are the real lucky one,” we replied.

“Yes,” he said, “but I still do not know what God wants me to do. He spared my life because he wants me to do something. And I don’t know what it is.”

The “dictatorship” of Ramon Magsaysay, October 15, 1955

The “Dictatorship�? of Ramon Magsaysay
October 15, 1955
by Teodoro M. Locsin

FIRST, Sen. Claro M. Recto, the Nacionalista “guest candidate” of the Liberal Party, called President Ramon Magsaysay a puppet of the Americans. Then, when the President said he would not support Recto’s bid for re-election, the Batangueño called the President an interloper, impudent, presumptuous, a bully, a wrecker, a bungler, and corny. When the President got the Nacionalista executive committee to exclude Recto from the party’s senatorial ticket, the senator called the President a dictator.

Is Ramon Magsaysay a dictator? He had his way. Is to have your way to be dictatorial or merely evidence that you are smart? Recto is smart. Is it a crime to be smarter than Recto?

Ramon Magsaysay, Man of the Year, January 6, 1951

January 6, 1951
Ramon Magsaysay: Man of the year
by Leon .O. Ty
REPORTING from the United States, Vicente Villamin, Filipino lawyer and economist now residing in San Francisco, wrote in his regular column in the Manila Daily Bulletin last week:

“Every person I met here who either was anew arrival from Manila or was in touch with Manila correspondents spoke in the highest terms of Secretary of National Defense Ramon Magsaysay. They all said that he was doing his duty with great vigor and fidelity and demonstrating that the Quirino administration could solve its pressing problems and hold the confidence of the people it there were more officials like him.

“The also expressed fear that the time might soon come that he might not get the full backing of the administration itself because of jealousy and the fact that he never hesitated to step on the toes of anyone who he believed was not doing the right thing or was short of the standard of duty required of him. I hope all this is unfounded. President Quirino deserves great credit for finding and appointing a man like Mr. Magsaysay, and he would be the last to be against him because he is proving to be the right type of public officials to face an emergency. Every good citizen should make Mr. Magsaysay feel that he is appreciated by the people and give him all manner of support and encouragement.�?

Quezon and the judiciary, 1959

Philippines Free Press
Quezon and the judiciary
by Rodrigo C. Lim
Cagayan de Oro City

AMONG THE HIGHLIGHTS OF Manuel L. Quezon’s life, whether as a private citizen or as a public official, was his consistent fight against injustice in any form. Nothing could provoke him to anger more than seeing a man denied his rights under the law.

As President of the Commonwealth, Quezon made it one of his first tasks to overhaul the judiciary, in order to make it, in his own words, “as perfect as humanly possible”. He had hardly warmed his seat in Malacanang when he announced that “to bulwark the fortification of an orderly and just government, it shall be my task to appoint to the everyone may feel when he appears before the courts of justice that he will be protected in his rights, and that no man in this country, from the Chief Executive to the last citizen, is above the law.”

Politics: means and end. Editorial for August 29, 1953

Philippines Free Press editorial

POLITICS: MEANS AND END
August 29, 1953

AS a tribute to the late President Manuel L. Quezon, his birthday was declared a national holiday. The nation rejoiced that he was born, which is tribute, indeed. A big parade was held in the city named after him, complete with military units and allegorical floats. There was a man; when comes such another?

It was splendid and glittering and expensive, the celebration of his birthday; it would have pleased him. Yet, the greatest tribute to the man cost exactly nothing. A man stood up and, for the first time, told, in measured language, the truth about Quezon. It cost the speaker, Sen. Claro M. Recto, nothing to make the speech except intelligence, which practice does not exhaust, literary skill, which is sharpened by use, knowledge of politics, which may be shared without losing, and good judgment, which is increased by exercise. Recto knew Quezon, admired him, but had no illusions about him. Last week, he told the truth about him, and what Recto said is a better monument to the man than the architectural affair the government is contemplating. When a man dies, what he has done is soon forgotten; his deeds are writ on water. He who would live a little longer after death, in the minds of men, is fortunate if he finds a biographer who can catch his spirit on the wing. Recto gave us the essence of Quezon as a public man.

How Quezon handled government crooks, August 19, 1961

Philippines Free Press
August 19, 1961
How Quezon handled government crooks
by Rodrigo C. Lim

NOW that President Garcia seems determined to weed out the scoundrels in the government service who have brought disrepute to his administration, it may be interesting to delve a little into past history and recall how, in his time, the late President Quezon handled such crooks.

Being as old as the oldest profession in the world, graft was not unknown in the good old prewar days. It is true that the modern C.B. ten percenters, ACCFA tobacco up-graders, etc., were then unknown, but there were quite a number of get-rich-quick Wallingfords in the different branches of the government who enriched themselves through their positions.

Among others, there were judges and fiscals whose decisions were for sale to the highest bidders; P.C., and police officers who were on the pay roll of vice operators; B.I.R. and customs men who, like their present counterparts, were leading princely lives through their under-the-table or fuera mirar operations, and others in various departments who were more concerned with making easy money than serving the public.

Crooked judges get the boot, May 27, 1939

Crooked Judges Get the Boot
May 27, 1939

“THE administration of justice cannot be expected to rise higher than the moral and intellectual standards of the men who dispense it. To bulwark the fortification of an orderly and just government, it shall be my task to appoint to the bench only men of proven honesty, character, learning, and ability, so that every one may feel when he appears before the courts of justice that he will be protected in his rights, and that no man in this country from the chief executive to the last citizen is above the law.”

President Quezon meant every word of the foregoing pronouncement, which he made on the occasion of his induction into office on November 15, 1935, as chief executive of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. That he is determined to purge this country of inept, corrupt and venal judges who dispense injustice instead of justice, who make a donkey of the law and who have no scruples about prostituting their sacred positions for personal gain, should be apparent to all by now. Since he assumed office, several judges in different parts of the Islands have been summarily dismissed from the government service for inefficiency, corruption, immorality and dishonesty.

Our issue for March 4, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS

March 4, 2006 Issue

Main Features

1.Cover: 20th Anniversary, People Power Revolution (with 5-page supplement)

2. Buried Alive

Farmer Christopher Lipato was watching his carabao nibble at the grass in the rice field when he heard the roar of something coming from the mountain above the village. When he looked up, he saw a wall of mud speeding across the field and swallowing everything on its path. Lipato, 28, turned and ran like hell, pursued by the furious avalanche of mud and rocks. It was over in 10 minutes. Lipato survived, but lost his wife, son, and father. They were among more than 1,500 people still missing in the mudslide that buried the village of Guinsaugon in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte, on February 17, a tragedy that geologists say had just been waiting to happen. The province sits on a fault on the earth where the ground is unstable. In December 2003, the top of Panaon Island collapsed, killing more than 100 people. In November 1991, landslides and floods caused by a tropical storm killed 6,000 people on Leyte Island. These were forgotten in the wake of last Friday’s tragedy in Guisaugon. Television talking heads kept asking about logging, mining, and quarrying until the weather bureau explained that it had been raining in Southern Leyte since February 1. The area has an average February rainfall of 127 millimeters in the past 30 years, but the last two weeks brought a rainfall of 500 millimeters. Two weeks of continuous rains softened the mountainside, planted to coconut trees whose roots cannot hold too much water, and at about 10:30 a.m. on February 17, gravity pulled down a part of the mountainside that had been so weakened. The avalanche of water, mud, rocks and coconut trees buried 300 homes and an elementary school. Reports say up to 3,000 people lived in the village. About 200 children and teachers were in the school at the time of the tragedy. An international rescue team, including 1,000 US Marines, is digging through the mud against wind and rain to find the buried homes and the school. More than 170 people have been rescued and 74 bodies recovered as of Tuesday. Text messages, probably coming from teachers in the buried school, give the rescuers hope that people are still alive under the mud.

By Ricky S. Torre

Our issue for February 25, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS

February 25, 2006 Issue

Main Features

1.Cover: EO 464

Anticipating a restraining order to come down from the Supreme Court, Malacañang has allowed administration officials to go to budget hearings in the Senate. The Palace has also let it be known that President Arroyo is willing to recall her controversial Executive Order 464 if the senators are willing to behave. This shows the Palace is no longer sure it can win this case despite its repeated assertions of confidence that the Supreme Court will decide for the order. Mrs. Arroyo may have the majority on the court—nine against four—but not the assurance that her appointees will deliver. What is at stake here is not the Senate’s pride, but the constitutional requirement of openness in government and the people’s right to know what their government is doing in their interest or against their interest. Mrs. Arroyo has issued the order prohibiting government, military and police officials from appearing before any congressional investigation without her permission supposedly to protect the officials from humiliation, following the experience of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales in the Senate last year. But the real purpose of the order is clear to the senators: Mrs. Arroyo has skeletons hidden in Malacañang. Her new chief of staff, Michael Defensor, has said it: the order is intended “to protect the administration.�? He does not mean the skeletons in Mrs. Arroyo’s closet, of course. But his choice of words is really descriptive of the order’s purpose. Without the order, the Senate will find more evidence and confirmation that P728 million in agricultural funds and P100 million in recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth was channeled to Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential campaign in 2004. The Senate may also just succeed in squeezing an admission from some military official of unlawful surveillance of the opposition during the election, an operation that led to military intelligence agents’ tracking of Mrs. Arroyo’s phone conversations with her henchman in the Commission on Elections, Virgilio Garcillano—and the Arroyo tapes scandal. Satisfying the senators is dangerous to Mrs. Arroyo, who is invoking executive privilege in this controversy. But her privilege is hobbling legislative work and preventing the people to know what is going on in her government. And just as important, her executive privilege is keeping from the people the answer to their question, Is she their president or not?

By Ricky S. Torre, Butch Serrano and Wendell Vigilia

Our issue for February 18, 2006

PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS

February 18, 2006 Issue

Main Features

1.Cover: “70 Lives to the Peso�?

The ABS-CBN program Wowowee was to celebrate its first anniversary on Saturday, but the crowds began gathering outside the Philsports Arena in Pasig City as early as Wednesday, hoping to be first at the gates and sure tickets. The lucky ones would get cash giveaways of P300 to P10,000. But the really big prizes were a home worth P2.5 million, P1 million in cash, and a public utility jeep. By Friday night, the crowds outside the arena had swelled to more than 30,000—too big for a facility that had a seating capacity of only 9,000 and field capacity of only 8,000. Yet the management of the network, the local government, and the city police sensed no danger. Police, though trained in crowd control and familiar with the lack of discipline of the poor, should have stopped the crowd buildup, told the people to go home and come back on Saturday. They did not. When the gate to the arena opened at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, thousands of people looking for a meal for even just one day, taking their chance own a house, maybe capital for a variety store, perhaps jeep to drive for a living, pushed and shoved, throwing hundreds of people in front down the ramp to the arena. People, mostly women, many of them elderly, were already getting crushed to death in front yet people on the street kept pushing and fighting for a way through. After police and arena security forces had quelled the crowd, more than 70 people lay dead or dying. The final death toll would come up to 74. Don’t ask how this tragedy happened. The investigation that President Arroyo had ordered had traced the stampede to lack of precaution on the part of the network’s management. The question is, why did this tragedy happen? Activist and civic groups and social commentators immediately saw why: poverty drove those thousands to Philsports Arena and to their deaths. While the Arroyo administration is trumpeting nice figures that are truly nothing but economic indicators, the majority of Filipinos are going hungry. “The Ultra stampede is the real state of the economy,�? says Sinlakas president Wilson Fortaleza. “It’s not 51 pesos to the dollar. It’s 70 lives to the peso.�? But Malacañang cannot see the connection. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye says President Arroyo should not be blamed for the stampede because she works hard to improve the economy. How—by taking the last bite from the mouth of poor with her 12 percent value-added tax?

By Ricky S. Torre

Institutionalizing state interventionism, May, 1996

Institutionalizing state interventionism
By Manuel L. Quezon III

WHEN it was inaugurated on November 15, 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines found itself facing a daunting task accomplish the readjustments of the Philippine economy from that of a colony to that of an independent state. As Teodoro Agoncillo put it, “The Commonwealth was conceived as an experiment in self-government, an interim period of adjustment in the political, social and economic, spheres.”

The Philippines, during the American colonial period, operated as most other colonies did. It provided a range of raw materials with goods for its own consumption and that of the colony, not to mention the world. And so while American accomplishments in infrastructure and business were quite extensive, they were found to be wanting from the perspective of nation which aimed to be modern and industrialized.

Two trivial items help to illustrate the state of the Philippines at the time. Five days after the inauguration of the Commonwealth, the commercial transpacific flight from California, inaugurating a regular service which would continue until the outbreak of the war. And yet it would only be under the new government that the railroad line—which had existed since Spanish times—leading to the provinces, was extended to Legaspi in the Bicol region and San Jose, Nueva Ecija. And this, despite such herculenean feats as the construction, thirty years before, of the road leading to Baguio. The reason for this, of course, was the United States was eager to develop a market for American automobiles, but did not particularly care about giving a market to the British, who specialized in locomotives.

The hand of the government, April 10, 1948

THE HAND OF THE GOVERNMENT
April 10, 1948

By Teodoro M. Locsin
Staff Member

HOW far should the government go into business? It depends, of course, on the kind of government. If the government is socialist, it should go into business up to its neck. That is what socialism means. Production for consumption instead of private profit. But if the government is that of capitalist democracy, then the government should stay out of business as much as possible. It should leave business in private hands.

Business & Cory: An affair to remember, August 23, 1986

August 23, 1986

Business and Cory:
An Affair To Remember
By: ARSamson

A BRIGHT September 1983 afternoon, Business Executive looked out his window along Ayala Avenue. He knew something strange was happening. What was causing all the racket? It was only 3 p.m. People were still trying to work. And those scraggly lines of men and women with placards, where wer they headed? The placards said Resign! Some had drawings of an octopus clutching coconuts, sugar canes, banks. The jeepney alongside blared its announcement loud enough to hear through the thick tinted glass the invitation to join the rally at Ugarte Football Field at 5:30. Time enough to close the books, finish up meetings and lock up for the day.

After the Airport Assassination, Business Executive knew that politics would be invading his air-conditioned office. He would have to make some kind of decision, surely.

Canned adobo and other S&T adventures, October 11, 1995

Canned adobo and other S&T adventures
By Manuel L. Quezon III
October 11, 1995

…With the tremendous amount of money being spent by the government in its industrialization which is being handled by the NDC, there is quite a big field for you who are taking chemistry and chemical engineering to show what you can do for the Philippines. There are many projects and quite a lot of money to spend on different projects. It will be a great future for the Philippines if we can only get the right kind of men to run each project. But I am afraid that the projects are too many and too costly. For example, in the canning of food products, Miss Orosa, whom you know to be an expert in canned goods, is now being offered a position by the NDC with an increase of P200 a month over her present salary in the government and she still refuses to accept the offer with a very potent and sound reasoning. I understand that the NDC in its canning department has spent in goods alone, for example, in canned adobo and several other food products like cooked bangus, etc., around P200,000, and one of the impositions that Miss Orosa put out is to take those canned goods out of the market because it would only spoil their reputation if allowed to continue. This must be true because I understand Secretary [Benigno S.] Aquino bought four or five cans of adobo to be sent to his son who is studying mining engineering at Denver, Colorado, and before he sent them to the Post Office he was wise enough to open one of the cans and he said that even the dogs would not eat t. The adobo that we have been sending you are canned by Miss Orosa…The Caliraya project, which I do not know whether it is familiar to you, is an electric power plant to be developed by water and which can supply sufficient electric power in Manila and the surrounding provinces. This is going to be the main source of power for all the projects of the NDC. I understand they will start immediately a caustic soda plant in Caliraya. Now, that probably will be the beginning of our powder manufacture. From there we might develop the manufacture of sulfuric acid and the building up of smelter plants in the Philippines. With cotton which can easily be grown, we might be able to build up in the future some kind of ammunition plant, which is very necessary for our national defense.
-Gen. Vicente Lim
letter to his sons Luisito and Bobby, July 25, 1940
published in the book To Inspire and To Lead: The Letters of Gen. Vicente Lim, 1938-1942

Tolentino’s “Last Hurrah,” July 26, 1986

July 26, l986

Tolentino’s “Last Hurrah”
Tolentino’s counter-revolution was no spontaneous combustion; it had all the earmarks of a deliberate, pre-meditated and cold-blooded putsch.
By Edward R. Kiunisala

It really started last March 30, when the exiled tyrant, 33 days after he had been kicked out of the country by the bloodless People Power revolution, tried to resurrect himself politically by declaring war against the Cory Aguino govenment before foreign media and some 3,000 kababayans in Honolulu. On that day, Easter Sunday, while the whole of christendom commemorated the resurrection of Christ, the gospel from Hawaii was that the overthrown Ferdinand Marcos was coming back to the Philippines to reclaim Malacañang.

Is he? August 23, 1986

August 23, 1986

“The Filipino Is Worth Dying For”
- Ninoy Aquino

Is He?
By Teodoro M. Locsin

WHEN Ninoy Aquino was arrested, together with thousands whose only crime was love of truth, justice and liberty, no vioce of protest was heard; there were no demonstrations by those still “free”. Traffic flowed smoothly. Business went on as usual. The Church went on in its non-militant way, preaching submission, by its silence, to the brutal rule. Marcos’s Iglesia was all for it, of course. Thus was upheld the judgment of the Communist Prophet: “Religion is the opium of the people.” Politicians went on their, to use Shakespeare’s term, scurvy way. But what else could be expected of them? But what was heart-breaking was the general indifference to the death of liberty. The Filipino people did not give a damn.

Worth dying for?

What a waste—wouldn’t that be?—of spiritual energy, apart from the ultimate cost!

Quezon’s gift: a dream of Social Justice, August 19, 1961

Quezon’s Gift: A Dream of Social Justice
“Not for A Few Alone, But For All, Especially The Poor”
by Emerenciana Y. Arcellana
Associate Professor of Political Science, U.P.

THE year of the inauguration of the Philippine Commonwealth, l935, was the year of my graduation from elementary school, in the seventh and last grade of which I first became truly conscious that there was such a thing as a government of the Philippines. Almost synonymous with this government at the time was the name of its foremost leader, Manuel L. Quezon.

The year l935 was also my first year in high school, as it was the first year of Quezon’s six-year term as President of the Commonwealth. Quite early in this incumbency, the name of Manuel L. Quezon became synonymous with his pet idea, social justic. The term occurs and recurs in almost all of his speeches, messages, press statements, interviews, conferences and forum discussions from l935 to l944, the year of his death.

Just what Quezon’s theory of social justice all about? Did Quezon in his actions keep faith with this theory? What motives impelled him to adopt this theory and promote it whenever possible during his administration?

The anatomy of loyalty, August 27, 1988

August 27, 1988

The Anatomy of Loyalty
By Edward R. Kiunisala

WHEN word reached them that Malacañang was under attack, they both jumped out of bed, made a few quick phone calls and, assured of the President’s safety, decided to report to the besieged Palace in that unholy pre-dawn hour. Bound by a common commitment and loyalty, two different persons, acting independently of each other, came up with the identical response and decision at a time of grave national crisis.
On their separate routes, unmindful of the risks involved, each went out to check up on government facilities and to monitor what was going on. Before daybreak, they were at their respective desks in Malacañang, carrying out the orders of the President.

The Friday coup: they Almost won! September 19, 1987

September 19, 1987

The Friday Coup, They Almost Won!
By Teodoro M. Locsin

THE most bizarre thing about the Friday coup was not that it took place, or that it was defeated, but that so many are blaming each other for what should be a joyful victory and a reason to reflect on why we continue to be threatened by mutinies and attempted coups.

Cowardly cabinet members complained to the President why decision-making was left in the hands of Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo and Presidential Counsel Teddy Boy Locsin, although both Arroyo and Locsin did not discuss what kind of response the Government should make to the coup but simply received orders from her to communicate her toughline to the Police and the AFP.