THE MAGSAYSAY STAND ON
THE FORMOSA ISSUE
Luis Q. Uranza, Jr.
1954-1955
Ours is a strange country indeed. While we
boast of a high degree of literacy, our people still to a large measure succumb to hero
worship. And our hero worship has shown trends to dangerous tendencies, at times amounting
to the virtual deification of men. Our hero worship extends to the point where no
reasonable man can stand a fair chance against the hero. Regardless of the nature of the
contest, whether it be political or intellectual.
Such was what happened and is happening in
the case of Senator Claro M. Recto in his quarrel with President Magsaysay over the
foreign policy of the Philippines regarding the President’s support of the American
stand on the Formosa question.
When President Magsaysay unequivocally
supported the American decision, the irrational public , probably failing to see the humor
in the situation not to mention the anomaly, swiftly rallied to the support of the stand.
The humor in the situation lies in the fact
that it is really one of those events where a flea feels big enough to support an
elephant. The anomaly lies in the fact that what shall we back up America? There has been
so much mention of the potential of Filipino manpower, but we ask, what manpower? We have
only enough to fight our own battles in the Philippines in defense of our home grounds, we
don’t have enough to scatter liberally around in support of American stand.
And then though, there is no denying that
the pronouncement had a profound effect on our American and SEATO allies, still, it may be
regarded by our prospective enemies in case of a third world war as grounds for
retaliatory action.
We the Filipino people should be more
realistic and practical when it comes to matters such as this. We cannot afford to commit
grave errors now. And we the students, the more enlightened faction of the national
population must take it unto ourselves to inform the people as to the real issues. We
should never fail to side with the minority when we know that the minority has strong
grounds for its stand . We should never aim to keep pleasing even the highest cost of all,
our independence through blunders in supporting the wrong policy, made as it were by
publicity conscious leaders. |
