Raul Manglapus
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Raúl Sevilla Manglapus (born October 20, 1918, Manila – died July 25, 1999, Muntinlupa City) was a prominent post-World War II Filipino politician. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement in 1968 (later renamed the National Christian Democrats Union). He was appointed as the youngest ever foreign minister for the Philippines in 1957, and elected to a national Senate seat by a landslide in 1961. He also ran for President in 1965 but lost to eventual dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He returned to the foreign affairs post in 1987 as a member of the Cabinet of President Corazon Aquino. A statesman of towering stature, he is best summed up by a Philippine newspaper columnist as, "...the best President we never had."
Manglapus graduated from Ateneo de Manila Summa Cum Laude and excelled in oratory. His prize-winning oration, "In Defense of the Tao", or the Common Man, capped extraordinary scholastic achievements which earned him the respect of President Manuel Quezon who attended the contest only to hear Manglapus speak. During World War II Manglapus was the voice in the "Voice of Freedom" broadcasts from the beleaguered Filipino-American forces on Bataan and Corregidor, serving under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. An authentic hero, he was tortured to the brink of death by the Japanese in Fort Santiago. He was fittingly a member of the Philippine delegation to the Japanese Surrender rites on the U.S.S. Missouri.
He first came to prominence from his association with Ramon Magsaysay, the one-time mechanic turned populist politician who remains perhaps the most popular Filipino president in history. In 1953, Manglapus composed for the presidential candidate Magsaysay the catchy campaign jingle Mambo Magsaysay, which became wildly popular and is credited in some quarters as aiding immensely in the election of Magsaysay. Interestingly, Manglapus remained till the end of his life a prolific composer and musical performer. His compositions, distinct for their martial lilt, included, besides, a college rallying march, "Blue Eagle the King," whose music was later borrowed in a Jesuit school march in the United States. Manglapus also wrote a musical comedy, Manifest Destiny: Yankee Panky, a parody of America's belated venture into Colonialism. He was also the leader of the Executive Combo Band, a jazz band composed mainly of his peers, which jammed with prominent jazz-inclined performers in the political realm such as Amelita Ramos, wife of President Fidel V. Ramos, and King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. Later in life, Manglapus would serve as chairman of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP),
Manglapus, in some regards, stood apart from his political peers, though not always to his advantage. A linguist and a snappy dresser, he sometimes conveyed the persona of an upstart elitist, an image which was not helped by a fluent American-tinged accent borne out of his education at the exclusive Ateneo de Manila university. This, and the lack of a traditional political machinery to support him, contributed to early electoral defeats. Nonetheless, by the time of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, he had attained prominence and stability in the Filipino political arena.
Fortuitously, Manglapus was outside the Philippines when Marcos declared martial law in 1972. Marcos refused to allow Manglapus' wife and children to join him in exile, and they were forced to flee the country by the backdoor, leapfrogging even by small raft to freedom. Manglapus remained in exile for 14 years, dissuaded by an outstanding warrant of arrest should he return to the country. Even in exile, Manglapus remained as one of the leading Filipino opposition figures along with Benigno Aquino Jr., Jovito Salonga and Jose W. Diokno. During his years in exile, Manglapus headed the Movement for a Free Philippines (MFP).
Manglapus immediately returned to the Philippines upon the ouster of Marcos and the ascension to the presidency of Corazon Aquino in 1986. The Aquino years provided a second lease in political life for the ageing statesman. He was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1987, but resigned before his term expired to serve once again as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for President Aquino. His tenure as Foreign Affairs Secretary was overshadowed by a remark he made during a Senate hearing on the rape of Filipina domestics in Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. He quipped, to general outrage, that if rape were inevitable, one should relax and enjoy it. It was on surface a flippant remark, but deeper meaning attached to it in terms of the need for the steeling of character, not the common virtue of Philippine lawmakers with lesser lights, some of whom were duplicitous participants in the rape of Philippine democracy and its economy, the drastic decline of the Peso, the needless suffering inflicted on its people. Despite the subsequent political firestorm, Manglapus weathered widespread calls for his resignation. After the election of his close associate Fidel V. Ramos as President in 1992, Manglapus lowered his political profile, while retaining powerful positions such as chairman of the Philippine National Oil Company, and Ramos's political party, the Lakas-National Christian Democrats Union (NUCD).
Manlapus had established the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement in 1968, a party which eventually reorganized as the NUCD. Manglapus fostered ties with the other Christian Democratic parties in the world, such as that in Germany.
A prolific writer and political analyst, his book written during his last year of exile,"Will of the People," 'Exploring Original Democracy in Non-Western Societies,' one of many articles, tracts and books he had already written, transcends national interests and traces the origins of democratic traditions and institutions which prove globally relevant to our times.
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