Today, August 31, the Republic of the Philippines will observe Ramon Magsaysay Day. Magsaysay was the 7th Filipino president, 3rd of the Republic. How do we Filipinos see him? With general admiration. I’ll leave it to you to look up on his life; I’ll write about his legacy:

• Regarded as a man who reached out to the people. Won them over with his honesty and integrity. Famously said “I will send my own father to jail if he breaks the law.”
• Significantly reduced the threat of the communist Huk insurgency, not through force alone. He destroyed their base of support by offering general amnesty and pushing land reform, addressing real grievances affecting the country. Contrast this with a contemporary critique of GMA’s fight with the NPA.
• Robert Heinlein was an admirer. At the end of Starship Troopers, hero Johnnie Rico (who happens to be of Filipino descent) asserted that he would’ve been a master of “psychological warfare if he were alive today.”
• One of the Philippines’ most prestigious medical schools, the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMC), is obviously named after him.
• The Ramon Magsaysay Award, founded with the help of Rockerfeller Brothers Fund, gives out awards Asian figures for achievements in Government Service, Public Service, Community Leadership, Journalism/Literature/Creative Communicative Arts, Peace/International Understanding, and Emergent Leadership. The list of awardees covers four decades.

Update: Wanna see the descendant of another great Filipino (Manuel Quezon) in action? Head over to Manuel “Manolo” Quezon III’s blog. He has also written about Magsaysay, mixed up with some interesting news.

Oh yeah: Ramon Magsaysay Jr. is a senator, and recently criticized the current administration, exhorting it to “honor transparency and accountability.”