However there was a time in the not too distant past when the tradition and practice of politics was honorable and was not anything bordering on the derogatory, for example, during the presidency of Ramon Magsaysay (RM). Last March 17 was the 49th death anniversary of the late President when his C-47 plane named Mt. Pinatubo hit the tip of Mt. Manunggal in Cebu in the year 1957. I still vividly remember the tragic event, because I was supposed to be one of the passengers on that ill-fated plane. Having been RM’s youth leader for the Eastern Visayas region, "The Guy’’ as he was fondly called asked me to join him on that flight, in order to help him reorganize the youth arm of the Magsaysay movement. By our Lord’s strange ways he guided my wife and me. I did not take that flight. Why was President RM in Cebu? Simply because he was concerned that the price of corn grits had gone up by 5 centavos from 30 to 35 centavos per ganta. RM was indeed a sincere and honest man of action who loved the poor. As we go to press, I did not see any official statement from the administration that would extol the exploits of RM. I also do not see any mention of the tragic event in Cebu. The present generation of Filipinos most probably are not even remotely aware that would RM’s successful leadership against the Communist Hukbalahap, we might have been one of the East Asian countries that have fallen into the hands of the Maoists. RM’s successful strategy to fight and defeat the Communist people’s war is still a good classic reading with many practical lessons on winning the heart’s and minds of the people. He was the first to employ composite combat battalions in the war against insurgency. If for this alone, we should be grateful as a nation to a leader who showed us by example what a politician with a classic good traditional and moral ethics could do for a nation hungry for good governance.

In my book, traditional politicians are those who sincerely follow the Constitution, execute the law, and respect the rule of law.

At the same time, while exercising the functions of their office, they do not only remember but also practice the ethical and moral standards that a civilized society requires of public officials. Good examples, at least in these particular specific incidents of the history of our electoral process, are the following: In the 1961 Presidential elections, the party candidate of the Nacionalista Party was the incumbent President Carlos P. Garcia. His opponent was Vice President Diosdado Macapagal, official candidate of the Liberal Party. When the initial result of that election was being tabulated, it showed that President Garcia was going to be defeated. Garcia’s men said that all was not lost because they could still change the election results in the Muslim provinces of Mindanao. It was said that President Garcia scolded his sycophants and he said that it was honorable to go down in defeat rather than to win by cheating. In 1965, the Liberal Party candidate for President was the incumbent President Diosdado Macapagal; that of the Nacionalistas was Senate President Ferdinand Marcos. When the election trends showed that President Macapagal would lose, some personalities in Malacañang proposed that in the Muslim areas, the results could still be altered. I was told that President Dadong scolded all of them, and said that "I’d rather go down in defeat rather than tarnish my reputation.’’ Today do we still have such men?