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The Huks are still a force to be reckoned with. But they are no longer a threat to Manila, or (in daytime) along the main highways through central Luzon. Six of the Huk Politburo are in jail. When Magsaysay took over, the Huks numbered an estimated 16,000. Now he claims there are only 8,000. Swashbuckling Luis Taruc, the dyed-in-the-Red general of the rebellion, is still at large, but with Magsaysay's 100,000-peso price on his head, reportedly has become so nervous and distrustful of his own comrades that he will let only his immediate family approach him.
"Don't Bother Me." With the Huks calmed down, Magsaysay announced that he was going to police the islandwide elections—an announcement that was greeted by cynical smiles. He went at his apparently hopeless job with a will—and a method. In Pag-asa, he hopped around the country to beagle out phony registrations, restrain the gunnery of rival politicos, and spot the places where his troops were most needed. In one town where preelection killing had broken out, he had the entire police force arrested for murder. In still another, where a Nacionalista candidate had been kidnaped, he jailed the mayor—a Liberal.
Some angry, defeated Liberals wanted to read Ramon Magsaysay out of the party. But President Quirino, alternately jealous and proud of Magsaysay, has an avuncular affection for his Secretary of Defense. He has given Magsaysay extra jobs—among them, running the vital Manila Railroad and Philippines Airlines. Magsaysay himself shrugs his shoulders, twists his eloquent brown face into a broad grin and asks: "How can a person get mad because we hold honest elections? All I did was follow religiously the instructions of the President.
"Now I feel so proud to be a Filipino. We have a great people. With right leadership, with the guidance and the assistance of the United States, this country can grow to be the head of a family of democratic nations in this part of the globe."
Freedom & Order. For a country sorely in need of both policemen and statesmen, Ramon Magsaysay has proved to be a great cop. Has he the makings of a statesman, too? It is still too early to tell. But some of his countrymen are already calling him "the Eisenhower of the Pacific." When he showed up on Manila's docks last week to welcome home his election policemen, the crowd mobbed him and sent up a chant: "Mabuhay [long live] Magsaysay, our next President!"
Whatever happens to Ramon Magsaysay, he is teaching his country an invaluable lesson—a lesson which is still being learned, in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa, where millions have recently won their freedom, sometimes before they are ready for it. The lesson is that real freedom can exist only with order.
-Originally known as the "Hukbo ng bayan laban sa hapon" (People's Army Against Japan), the Huk movement now has a new name: "Hukbo ng mapagpalaya sa bayan" (People's Liberation Army). -Literacy in the Philippines is now 50%, highest in Southeast Asia. Others: Malaya, 32%; Indo-China, 15%; Indonesia, 6%.