(5 of 5)
"The administration is committed to the maintenance and strengthening of tra ditional ties of friendship and cooperation with the U.S. . . ." Things went well. The assembled politicians suggested a minor change in wording here & there. President Magsaysay salved José Laurel's pique by agreeing to hold a weekly breakfast parley with Senate and House leaders.
Then, one by one, with Jose Laurel in the forefront, the politicos endorsed the President's statement of principles. It was a sharp setback for Claro Recto. Ramon Magsaysay, by resisting his first impetuous urge to make a clean break from the Nacionalista leaders, had won their pledged support. But whether it would prove a decisive victory remains to be seen. Senator Recto did not admit defeat, and some Nacionalistas still look upon him as one of their leaders. But Magsaysay, the amateur, had won his first big victory over the professional politicians.
He will doubtless have to win more to achieve the success so many wish for him, but in winning the first one he had demonstrated how democracy responds to good intentions strongly put. The old pros knew they did not dare split away from the most popular and most trusted man in the Philippines.