THE PHILIPPINES: The Same Old Mosquitoes

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From the cool heights of Baguio to steamy Zamboanga last week, 7,000,000 Filipinos went to the polls to elect eight senators and close to 13,000 city and provincial officials. At his home in Bohol, chess-playing President Carlos Garcia alternated between rejoicing over the birth of his first grandchild and fretting over the electoral prospects. Though neither his own office nor his Nacionalista Party's control of the 24-man Philippine Senate was at stake, Garcia knew that the off-year vote would be a test of his chances for re-election in 1961.

By Philippine standards, it turned out to be the most peaceable election ever; although during the six-week campaign 38 Filipinos had been killed and 131 wounded, only two killings were reported on election day. But it was also an election, noted Manila's Philippines Free Press, in which "the corruption of the people with their own money" reached "awesome" proportions. With the rich resources of government funds at their disposal, Garcia's Nacionalistas reportedly spent $4,500,000 buying votes in Cebu Province (pop. 1,324,880) alone.

Along with a bottomless campaign chest, Garcia & Co. had the advantage of divided opposition: unable to agree on a joint ticket, Vice President Diosdado Macapagal, Garcia-baiting boss of the Liberal Party, and Progressive Manuel Manahan, hailed by his followers as spiritual heir to the late great President Ramon Magsaysay, abandoned their threatened coalition against Garcia. The Nacionalistas did poorly in the cities. In Manila, brash, gun-toting Arsenio Lacson, one of Garcia's archenemies, won a third term as mayor by a 2-to-1 majority; in Cebu City, Sergio Osmena Jr., son of the Philippines' wartime President, was elected mayor despite the fact that Garcia had sent down Osmena's own father to campaign against him. Easy frontrunner among the 32 candidates for the eight Senate seats was Liberal Ferdinand Marcos, a handsome veteran of the Bataan Death March, who emerges as a man to watch in Philippine politics. Way down in 14th place was colorless Juan Pajo, who as Presidential Executive Secretary serves Garcia on his most delicate errands.

What finally turned the tide in the Nacionalistas' favor was the vote from the barrios, the impoverished rural villages where an avalanche of government money proved helpful. By week's end the Nacionalistas seemed certain to elect five Senators—including Ramon Magsaysay's younger brother, Genaro, who, on the strength of his name, was running right behind Liberal Marcos. Although the defeat of handpicked Candidate Pajo suggested that a good many Filipinos had had their fill of Carlos Garcia, the Nacionalista Party as a whole had apparently profited from one cynical popular argument: "The mosquitoes inside the mosquito net have grown fat sucking your blood, and maybe they'll be satisfied. Why let in fresh, hungry ones?"