Six Months of Magsaysay

...The U.S...

...He sent an emissary to negotiate with the Huk leaders on terms that included piecemeal surrender of arms at the rate of 20 per cent each month until the surrender was completed...

...Magsaysay has asked for an 18-month postponement of this tax, and present indications are that the U.S...

...As Defense Minister in the previous administration, Magsaysay had been credited with breaking the backbone of the Communist-led Huk movement...

...Many Filipinos believe that free-trade arrangements with the U.S...

...Magsaysay and the Japanese Government had agreed on a $400-million investment for land reclamation on Mindanao as well as the establishment of industrial plants to utilize the hemp production and minerals of Luzon...

...prolong Philippine dependence on the U.S...

...Those cleared or pardoned would receive Government aid in resettlement...

...If these measures are not enacted, Magsaysay will have to carry the fight to the people...

...Laurel and Recto introduced a Senate resolution calling for a constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution along the lines of a semi-parliamentary government with a curb on Presidential powers...

...But the Nationalist faction led by Senator Recto rejected it and demanded Sl billion from the Japanese...

...For his cabinet, therefore, he chose men with executive ability and specialized knowledge rather than politicians...

...They advocate a diversification of production and trade that would extend to other markets as well...

...This measure may boomerang by disrupting trade and creating internal tensions...

...Unfortunately, the momentum of his program has necessarily slowed down because of the political and economic mess he inherited from the Quirino Administration...

...are to be taxed 5 per cent beginning July 4 of this year...

...This may not be enough help to Magsaysay's program...

...One of his early acts as President was an attempt to end the Huk threat to internal peace once and for all time...

...His budget included no new taxes, but he proposed to increase revenues by ferreting out tax evaders and creating an efficient tax-collecting agency...

...The Huk leadership refused to accept these terms, and negotiations were carried on spasmodically until Luis Taruc, the outstanding Huk leader, surrendered in mid-June...

...market...

...The road to stable democracy is marked with many obstacles...

...The cause of the break was Recto's charge that Magsaysay was a puppet of the United States because he proposed joint military action with the United States in case the U.S...

...The Philippines have overcome some of them...

...Those charged with crimes would stand trial...

...Immediately after his victory, the President called a Nationalist-party caucus in the Presidential Palace...

...Magsaysay not only found the treasury depleted but had to reckon with a general-fund deficit of $62 million as well as a public debt of $500 million...

...Six Months of Magsaysay The Philippine President has to cope with opposition from his own party, but he has halted corruption and is working toward stable democracy By Henry Merritt When Ramon Magsaysay assumed the Presidency of the Philippines at the start of this year, domestic and foreign observers watched with keen interest...

...This settlement would have gone a long way toward achieving Magsaysay's reforms...

...His budget, public-works program, social and economic reforms, and socialsecurity proposals have not as yet been approved...

...The murdered man had charged that Castelo, while a judge in Manila, had accepted bribes and engaged in extortion...

...will probably come to Magsaysay's aid by extending the provisions of the Philippine Trade Pact...

...The caucus also voted to support the policy of close relations with the U.S...

...Recently, Magsaysay lost a measure of international esteem by signing a bill restricting retail trade in the archipelago to Philippine citizens...

...The positive measures are yet to be unfolded...

...Magsaysay is fighting a rear-guard action against Recto and his following at the same time that he is fighting for his legislative program...

...The President realized that the Filipinos voted for him because they wanted a break with the past and desired a government that would act effectively to promote a decent standard of living...

...Under this agreement, Philippine exports to the U.S...

...Recto claimed that this proposal would draw the Philippines into active participation in the Indo-China war...

...will grant a year's extension...

...The first break between Magsaysay and the Nationalist-party faction led by Senators Jose Laurel and Claro Recto developed over Magsaysay's domestic-reform policy and his plan for new ties with the United States...

...Castelo has been accused in the 1953 slaying of a witness against him in disbarment proceedings...

...The corrupting influences have been defeated, the Huks are now reduced to a few hundred diehards, and an attempt to alter the structure of government has been defeated...

...It may also discourage the foreign investors whom Magsaysay is seeking to attract to Philippine industrialization...

...This act is aimed particularly at overseas Chinese, who in Manila, for example, control about 90 per cent of the retail trade...

...Thus far, Magsaysay has been able to maintain his independence...

...Many of these Chinese are illegal residents...

...or the Philippines were attacked...

...Henry Merritt is labor editor of the N. Y Teacher's Guild Bulletin...

...Could Magsaysay, who broke with the Liberal party to win as the candidate of the Nationalists, accomplish his program of social and economic reforms without hindrance from the Nationalist party bosses...

...While Recto argued for the increased reparations on patriotic grounds, it is believed that he does not want to see Magsaysay's landreform program succeed...

...others are temporary residents...

...Magsaysay's five-year economic development plan aims to increase agricultural production, stimulate industrial enterprise based on local materials, and revise the land-tenure system so that the tenant farmer receives a higher proportion of his harvested crop...

...He is therefore not bound by the caucus agreement and has already given notice that he will criticize the Administration whenever he believes such criticism just...

...The public approved the budgetary program, as well as Magsaysay's separation from political control of the welfare fund, which had been grossly misused by previous administrations...

...The plan also calls for distribution of land to the landless...

...This the Japanese refused to pay and withdrew from the negotiations when it appeared that the Philippine Government could not win support for the planned settlement...

...Here he told the members of his party in no uncertain terms that he was not only the President but also the party leader...

...To finance this plan, Magsaysay sought a settlement with Japan on the reparations question...

...These depend upon the support the people give Magsaysay's reforms as well as upon a new political alignment that will better voice the desires of the small farmer and the developing working class...

...Only quick action by Magsaysay, who rallied the opposition Liberals, the coalition Democrats, and some Nationalists, managed to defeat the proposed constitutional revision...

...The arrest and indictment on murder charges of Oscar Castelo, a member of former President Quirino's cabinet, further endeared Magsaysay to the people...

...The second and more serious division in the Nationalist-party ranks occurred just at the time that the Huk leader Taruc was surrendering...

...As a result, all those present voted that no member could publicly criticize the President's policy without first discussing it in the party...

...Senator Recto, who was mourning the death of his son, was not present at the caucus...

...The announced results of the caucus seem to be a cover-up for the inner-party struggle still taking place...

...In about fifteen years, this investment would yield the Philippines an estimated Sl-billion return in revenue...