Ramon F Magsaysay

CONDITION OF THE PHILIPPINES

Recovery of the Philippines after the Japanese War.
Reconstruction of the Philippines after WW2

PRIMARY PROBLEMS

Land Reform Problems
Hukbalahap Rebellion
Lack of funding for the rehabilitation of the Philippines from the damages from World War 2

PROMISES DURING THE ELECTIONS AND INAUGURATION

I will have such men. From this day, the members of my administration, beginning with myself, shall cease to belong to our parties, to our families, even to ourselves. We shall belong only to the people.
In the administration of public affairs, all men entrusted with authority must adhere firmly to the ideals and principles of Constitution.
I will render-and demand-uncompromising loyalty to the basic tenet of our Constitution: that you the people, are sovereign.
The rule of the government must be service to you. Accordingly, I pledge my administration to your service.
I pledge that we shall be guardians of freedom and dignity of the individual.”
The Bill of Rights shall be, for me and the members of my administration, a bill of duties. We shall be guardians of the freedom and dignity of the individual.
The land tenure system of our country shall be re-examined, to purge it of injustice and oppression.
“Land for the landless” shall be more than just a catch-phrase. We will translate it into actuality. We will clear and open for settlement our vast and fertile public lands which, under the coaxing of willing hearts and industrious hands, are waiting to yield sustenance to millions of our countrymen.
I therefore call upon the remnants of the Huk uprising still hiding in the hills to lay down their arms — and rejoin the rest of the nation in the ways of peace.
But, to the leaders of the Communist conspiracy who would deliver this country and its people to a foreign power, this I say: I shall use all the forces at my command to the end that the sovereign authority of this government shall be respected and maintained.

LAWS AND PROGRAMS

Agrarian Reform Programs
1. Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954

• LASEDECO was abolished and established the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration
• Main goal was to resettle landless farmers, and aimed at the rebels who returned to provide them with lots for home and farming in Palawan and Mindanao

2. Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954)

• Created the court of Agrarian Relations
• The leasehold system and share-tenancy were organized to oversee the relationship between tenants and landowners

3. Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955)

• Land Tenure Administration (LTA) were in charge of the possessing and distributing tenanted rice and corn lands (200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for corporations)

4. Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing Administration)

• Small farmers and tenants low interests of between six to eight percent with their loans

5. Reparation Agreement

• An agreement between Japan and the Philippines to pay the latter five hundred fifty million U.S. dollars ($550,000) as payment for the war damages of World War II.

6. Bell Trade Act of 1946 into the Laurel-Langley Agreement

• It eradicated the authority of the United States to have control over the exchange rate of the Philippines peso, parity privileges reciprocal, extended the sugar quota. This agreement retained the economic subservience between the U.S. and the Philippines.

7. Agricultural Commodities Agreement with the U.S. (1957)

• perpetuating the colonial pattern of the nation’s economy

8. Anti-subversion Law

• Law that limited the citizen’s democratic rights of assembly, free speech, and belief.

BENEFICIARIES OF THE LAWS AND PROGRAMS

Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954

• Rebel returnees and as well as landless farmers benefitted for they were given home lots and farm lands

Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954)

• Although the law amended on the tenancy problem, farmers benefitted from the distribution of crops on a certain basis

• The main problem of tenurial system was not given notice

HOLES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF THE LAWS

Although the common people benefitted from the land distribution of the government, and tenants were given more rights, the problems that were solved by the government were just in the surface rather than the main problem. They put a solution to a problem but not in the main one, in Republic Act No. 1199 farmers were given a certain percentage of the distribution of crop, so it put and minor solution to that but with the case of the tenurial system, it wasn’t given notice.
His programs were designed to benefit the common people but eventually had its problems in the end. The relocation of the people from certain places, worked at first but eventually started a cultural dispute between the natives living there and those who were relocated.

ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES

Corruption among cabinet members and the endless attempts to bribe the president were the most common issues of that time where corruptions was very rampant among government officials and President Magsaysay was among the very few who resisted and had zero tolerance against corruption.
The president who had zero tolerance for corruption even simple signs of not having a clean government he would put a stop on to it especially with his relatives. Like when his brother planned to start a law firm, the president refused for it will draw shady dealings for the firm will be run by the president’s brother.

SUMMARY OF GOVERNANCE

Ramon Magsaysay was dubbed as “the guy” because many considered him as the president who really connected and represented the common man being a president with a sympathetic heart to the masses. He even opened Malacañang to the public. His death was presented with issues telling that his plane didn’t actually crashed but it was sneaked in with a bomb that caused the plane crash of the president.

GRADE (DLSU SYSTEM)

If I were to grade, it will be 2.5 based on what he did against corruption. His man for the masses image really reflects on what he did and how he did it. He roamed around barrios in order to hear from the people what they needed. But that really started something bad for the Filipino people, which started on what I believe the strong dependency of the people to public servants. Instead of the people doing what they needed to do, they instead leaned on the officials that is why I only gave him a 2.5 instead of a 4.0 which will be solely based on his uncorrupted tenure as president.