From the cool heights of Baguio to steamy Zamboanga last week, 7,000,000 Filipinos went to the polls to elect eight senators and close to 13,000 city and provincial officials. At his home in Bohol, chess-playing President Carlos Garcia alternated between rejoicing over the birth of his first grandchild and fretting over the electoral prospects. Though neither his own office nor his Nacionalista Party's control of the 24-man Philippine Senate was at stake, Garcia knew that the off-year vote would be a test of his chances for re-election in 1961.
By Philippine standards, it...