New Political Tactics

It was not only an explosive week on the Philippine roads (see above). Politically, it was the liveliest week since the liberation.

After six days of picking his way through Manila's rubble in the heavy heat of Luzon, Maryland's Senator Millard Tydings, the Senate's expert on U.S. territories, abruptly emplaned for home. He had come with greying, ailing President Sergio Osmena, back on his native soil after a two-month sojourn in the U.S. He had conferred with General Douglas MacArthur; he had pledged "fair and generous" treatment to the near-bankrupt Philippines during their transition period toward independence (to be granted by July 4, 1946).

Senator Tydings, amply supplied with sun helmets and summer khaki, had been expected to stay four weeks. When he suddenly left Manila, rumors flew through the capital that he had ducked out to avoid the sticky political situation developing in the Islands. At home, Senator Tydings said he had come back solely to speed up U.S. aid to the Islands. He had been shocked by their war damage, and was aghast at their economic prostration.

Nevertheless, the Philippines seethed with political intrigue.

Duel in the Sun. For nearly 40 years, like a long duel in the sun, patient Sergio Osmena had fenced with the late President Manuel Quezon. With Quezon's death last year, he had ascended to power. Now he found himself challenged in turn.

The challenger was a man the war-weary Filipinos knew well: smart, swart Brigadier General Manuel Roxas y Acuna, a lawyer-economist turned soldier, who had been asked by General MacArthur to stay behind when the General and the Philippine Government left in 1942.

Manuel Roxas (pronounced roe-hoss) stayed, was soon captured by the Japs in Mindanao. Then began a long campaign to make him a puppet ruler. Roxas, determined to carry on guerrilla activities, warded off the first Jap blandishments by feigning illness (he had lost 48 Ibs.). When Japs came to call at his Manila home, he took fever shots, bounded up & down steps to make himself pant and sweat. Finally, Premier Tojo sent his personal physician to treat Manuel Roxas; eventually Roxas found his name on a Jap-appointed commission to draft a Philippine constitution.

He helped frame the constitution. In explanation, he says: "I wanted to prevent a dictatorial government which would give the Japanese even greater power." Roxas thinks that he was the only member of the commission who never cashed the 10,000-peso check which the Japs sent as an honorarium. (He says the check was burned with other papers when his house was destroyed in the battle for Manila.) He was appointed to the cabinet of puppet President Jose Laurel, but did not attend its meetings. U.S. officers who stayed behind during the occupation give Manuel Roxas the highest rating. Said one: "He was the overall spiritual leader of the guerrillas." Many Filipinos idolize him the way they once did Manuel Quezon.

Showdown in November. Faced with the Roxas threat, President Osmena's position did not look too secure. (He himself has two sons who are in prison on charges of collaboration.) Last week he set about repairing his fences. He called a meeting for this week, of the Philippine Congress (of which Manuel Roxas will be the Senate leader). He got General MacArthurs acceptance of a Philippine division for the battle against Japan. And he thrice conferred with Manuel Roxas, offering him the chairmanship of the Philippine Rehabilitation Commission in Washington. If Roxas accepts, which is likely, it will remove him from the Islands for many weeks. It will also permit him to let the U.S. people and Government see him. No one doubted that he would oppose Sergio Osmena in the November presidential election.

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