THE PHILIPPINES
The strongest and best friend of the U.S. in the Far East is 46-year-old Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines. A guerrilla fighter against the Japanese in World War II, a passionate admirer of Americans, and the man who as Defense Secretary crushed the Communist Huks, Magsaysay was elected President by a landslide last November. In five months in office, he has had to make the difficult transition from hero-above-politics to political leader. From Manila, TIME Senior Editor John Osborne cabled this report on the tough opposition Magsaysay faces inside his own party, and of how he met it last week.
AT noon one day last week, a thin woman with roughened hands and bitter mouth walked across the huge chandeliered reception room at Malacanan, the palace of Filipino Presidents, and into the office marked "Presidential Complaints and Action Commission." A tired but courteous official asked her to sit down and tell him her trouble. Her problem, she said in soft Tagalog, was that her husband was about to go off to the U.S. and abandon her; she wanted President Magsaysay to keep him at home.
Such a request did not surprise the official. He and others at Malacanan have heard wives complain that their husbands were too vigorous, or impotent, or unfaithful; they have been asked to redress the wrongs of abused farm tenants, to pay the rent of impoverished widows. Filipinos have inundated the Complaints and Action Commission with 23,000 requests for help since Magsaysay set it up last January. In a country where the fortunate learn early to use their government, and the unfortunate to fear it, the word has gone out that any man or woman, rich or poor, may come to Magsaysay and be heard.
"You Will See." The President himself had gone off to his yacht that day for a few hours of escape. Not long ago, the favor-seekers would have sought him out directly and engulfed him. Now, Magsaysay says, he has put them in good hands, and seldom has to see more than 500 persons a day himself.
Magsaysay also believes that he is getting the larger aspects of being President under control, though he is aware that there is some doubt on that score among some of his sincerest associates and admirers. "When you ride a strange horse, you always have a little trouble," Magsaysay says soberly, "no matter how good a horseman you are. Now I know my horse. There will be no more trouble. You will see."
Millions of his countrymen, including some who have made a lot of trouble for him and will make more, hope that Ramon Magsaysay is right. A Senator of his Nacionalista Party, said last week: "This man is the only hope of our country. He must succeed. It will be a tragedy if he fails."