Against the Odds

In his 53 years, Carlos Romulo had climbed fast & far from the nipa shacks and tin roofs of his little town of Camiling, 75 miles north of Manila in Luzon. A graduate of the University of the Philippines, he rose to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsman, bestselling author (I Saw the Fall of the Philippines), Corregidor's "Voice of Freedom," a brigadier general in the U.S. Army under MacArthur, president of the fourth U.N. General Assembly, and finally his country's dual-role envoy to the U.N. and to Washington. But he was now a long way from home, and a prophet only in distant lands.

A month ago President Elpidio Quirino, who is seeking reelection, called his Ambassador home, asked his help. They had a long conference, and parted amiably. Afterwards, Quirino announced that Romulo would head the Liberal Party's Senate ticket. "I like his spirit," said Quirino. But soon Carlos Romulo was also listening to advice of the Senate minority leader, Liberal Tomas Cabili, who thinks corruption in Quirino's administration has made Quirino unpopular with the people.

Last week Romulo announced that he had resigned his diplomatic jobs and would battle President Quirino for the Liberals' presidential nomination. He was running, said his letter of resignation, because "political confusion, social decay, and a noticeably growing lack of public confidence in government have created a . . . grave national peril." Replied Quirino the next day: "I have decided for the nomination and I shall get it." Countered Romulo, no longer polite to his former boss: "This is the Fuehrer speaking."

Romulo had less than a week before the convention in which to combat Quirino's political skill, his control of the party machinery and of governmental patronage. The odds were heavy against him. Should he manage to beat the islands' slickest politician for the nomination, his opponent in the November election would be the popular Huk-slayer, Ramon Magsaysay. But was Carlos Romulo downhearted? True to form, he beamed a toothy smile for photographers, uttered a headline: "I will not retreat."

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