Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr.

Background

Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay was an Ilocano born in Iba, Zambales on August 31, 1907 to Exequiel Magsaysay y de los Santos, a blacksmith, and Perfecta del Fierro y Quimson, a schoolteacher.

Education

He attended the University of the Philippines in Manila and José Rizal College in Manila, graduating in 1933.

Career

He worked as a mechanic, foreman, and finally general manager of a motor transport concern until the Japanese attack upon the United States in December 1941.

Magsaysay served with the U. S. Army until the Bataan surrender in April 1942 and then became a guerrilla leader in the Zambales military district in central Luzon. In 1945 he was appointed governor of Zambales Province, and in 1946 he was elected to the first of two terms in the Philippine Congress.

Magsaysay was named secretary of defense by Pres. Elpidio Quirino in 1950, and during his tenure in this office he not only reformed the army but also greatly reduced the strength of the Hukbalahap insurgents who had terrorized central Luzon. In 1952 he resigned from his post as secretary of defense in the Liberal Party cabinet to campaign for president on the Nacionalista ticket.

He was elected third president of the Republic of the Philippines in November 1953; his administration was noted for a peace and reparations treaty with Japan, land reform, the beginning of a public health program, and restoration of peace and order over most of the country. The Huk leader Luis Taruc surrendered in May 1954.

Magsaysay was extremely popular with the masses. In 1955 the Philippine Congress granted him power to break up great landed estates for the benefit of small farmers. In the same year the Nacionalista Party endorsed his program in its entirety and nominated a slate of candidates designed to remove his strongest opponents from congress. This slate won in November, but some opposition to his reform movement and to his policy of close friendship with the United States continued.

He died in an airplane crash near Cebu City, Cebu Island, in the Central Philippines, on March 17, 1957.

Achievements

• Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. , as secretary of defense and president, reduced the Communist-led Hukbalahap movement after World War II.

Connections

He was married to Luz Magsaysay (née Banzon) on June 16, 1933 and they had three children: Teresita "Sita" Banzon-Magsaysay, Milagros "Mila" Banzon-Magsaysay and Ramon "Jun" Banzon-Magsaysay, Jr.

Wife:

Luz Magsaysay (née Banzon)