Political indicator
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Political indicator
- Creator
- Roces, Alfredo R.
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama Volume XVIII (No. 4) April 1966
- Year
- 1966
- Rights
-
- Abstract
-
Filipino decisions on helping or not helping South
Vietnam - Fulltext
- ■ Filipino decisions on helping or not helping South Vietnam has provoked this column which concludes: “In this country there are no political parties, po litical philosophies, or political convictions.” POLITICAL INDICATOR If one is interested in the dynamics of Philippine poli tics, the Vietnam bill is a highly fascinating case study. The bill threads through our entire political landscape making an excellent guide to the Philippine political system. One can look at the history of the Vietnam bill and see the forces of politi cal action, or one can see the national reaction from our leaders to the barrio folk, and perceive the ma chine works of the national structure. The bill was first introduced during the Maca pagal era. It was presented with the magnificent endorse ment of the Secretary of De fense then. Speaker Villareal then returned from Viet nam and stated that aid of a military nature would be “provocative” and ill-advised. When the bill was introduced however, he descended the rostrum as Speaker and work ed for the passage of the bill in two days. But elections had by this time excited the nation. The form of aid to Vietnam became a campaign issue. Macapagal was roundly scor ed by the opposition candi date for president, Ferdinand Marcos, stating in strong terms, that military action in the guise of engineers was foolhardy. After the elec tions, with the Marcos vic tory, there was a “change in emphasis” and the new Pres ident then unequivocally en dorsed the bill which advo cated the same form of mili tary aid labeled army en gineers, to Vietnam. Since Villareal remained Speaker of the House, it was merely a replay of his previous role. Thus, the Vietnam issue as political issue, was of no sig nificance in actual fact be cause the candidate who won a mandate from the people while running on the stand on non-military aid to Viet nam, simply changed his mind. April 1966 9 In the background thrives comments about US pressure. There is heavy hinting about “compensations” conditioned on our amenability to send ing our flag into the battle fields of Vietnam. Aside from sudden and flattering visits from US officialdom, including Vice President Humphrey, Secretary of State Rusk, and Undersecretary William Bundy, we had Pres ident Marcos talking to US military personnel about fighting for freedom and be ing photographed in the cockpit of a_US fighter plane wearing a pilot’s headgear. Incidentally, this reminded us of the photograph of Gen. and Mrs. Cao Ky dressed like space pilots in their con ference with President John son in Hawaii. • • • With the US shadow in the background let us look at the reaction of our lea ders. There were those glo riously happy to get into Vietnam and fight for free dom and democracy, includ ing two congressmen volun teering to, march into the fray. What is the party stand? Well, the Nacionalistas refuse to take a party stand, and the Liberals like wise. We are going resolute ly to war, and neither of the major parties want to take a stand on it. Only President Marcos is assuming a stand, and only a handful of inde pendent-minded legislators are against it, but they are on their own. In this coun try there are no political parties, political philosophies, or political convictions. — By Alfredo R. Roces GREATEST LIE Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world. — Carlyle. 10 Panorama
- pages
- 9+