War: Arms and the Woman

When chubby Mrs. Maria Concepcion Lim Planas of Manila read about the U.N.'s appeal for men and arms for the Korean war, she saw her duty clear. It happened, she wrote to the Philippines' President Elpidio Quirino, that she had a lot of war material on her hands, and she would be delighted to contribute it to the U.N.'s cause. The Manila Evening News quickly made a report: Housewife Planas had several depots of "armored cars, trucks, machine guns . . . 1,000 tanks . . . all sorts of field equipment... the biggest pool of war equipment in the islands . . ."

Startled President Quirino ordered that all military equipment in the hands of private individuals be seized forthwith. Early this month, the House of Representatives' committee on national defense investigated. Fifty-two-year-old Mrs. Planas, a willing witness, testified that she had bought the war materials legally from the Philippine Surplus Property Commission last October. But two other witnesses slightly changed the formidable picture of Mrs. Planas as a one-woman arsenal. Said her son Alberto: "My mother is a sick woman. There's really nothing in our depots that the army can use—just a pile of junk." Said her daughter Carmen: "Mother's ... 1,000 tanks are fictitious."

By last week the House committee and the Philippine army had inspected most of Mrs. Planas' depots. They had in fact found a mass of war material, but most of it was useless. It had been kept in open lots, exposed to tropical sun and rain. Most of the gear was rusted beyond repair. The army did impound three Sherman tanks and three half-tracks that looked as if they could be repaired.

Dismayed by the less-than-favorable publicity she had gotten, and hurt by the U.N.'s lack of appreciation, Mrs. Planas withdrew her offer and decided henceforth to devote more of her time to her church, a group called Spirit Science, of which she is president. In a chapel inside her house, Mrs. Planas conducts seances every Saturday. Three years from now, she said at week's end, "according to the spirits, I will become President of the Philippines."