Among the good friends of the Philippines' late President Ramon Magsaysay was Jesus Vargas, a burly, outspoken career officer who rose through the ranks to become the Philippine Republic's first three-star general. Vargas, 54, won his countrymen's respect for his ability, honesty and stubborn determination to keep the Filipino army out of politics. Last week these virtues cost General Vargas his job as Philippine Defense Secretary.
Behind Vargas' enforced resignation lay President Carlos Garcia's well-justified nervousness about next fall's Philippine senatorial elections. In the two years since Magsaysay's death in a plane crash elevated him to the presidency, high-living Carlos...
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