Anomalies

Filipinos have a euphemism which they apply these days to corrupt practices, whether of the minor variety, as in the recent stuffing of a beauty-contest ballot box, or of the grand public crookedness which too often prevails in the islands. The word is "anomalies." It first began to be used after the war, to refer to deals in surplus war stocks. The government has even set up a special "anomalies tribunal" to try offenders. What the plain people would rather have is government free of anomalies.

Although the next presidential election is eleven months away, Filipinos have already begun to fear election anomalies--fraud, intimidation, bloodshed, and perhaps even civil war. In fact, the stakes are so high and the conflict so bitter between the incumbent Liberals under President Elpidio Quirino and the Nacionalistas under Senator Jose Laurel that some observ-.ers talk darkly of the danger of a coup d'etat before election day. From TIME'S Far East Correspondent Robert Neville this week came a report on the situation:

So intense is the rivalry between Quirino and Laurel, the logical opponents, that Filipinos fear the country will suffer a repetition of the intimidation and general bloodshed which accompanied Quirino's victory in 1949. In that election, armed soldiers herded voters to the polls, and even the birds, bees and trees were "voted." Jose Laurel, openly predicting violence, came out recently with a dramatic proposal for forestalling it: For the good of the Philippines, he suggested, both he and Quirino should 1) renounce their ambitions to the Presidency, and 2) agree to support popular Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay, 45, who has ably curbed the Huk menace (TIME, Nov. 26, 1951).

A deeply religious man who was educated at Yale, Laurel has a name that seems to be magic to the Filipinos. They refuse to take seriously the charges of anti-Americanism and collaborationism which grew out of his 18 months as puppet President under the Japanese occupation. Laurel has repeatedly explained that his Actions were inspired by General Mac-Arthur, who sent word that he wanted him to stay behind to assuage the suffering of the Filipinos under the Japanese. Laurel has gone into detail in his memoirs but nowjj-efuses to publish them, because "I'm afra'd I was too bitter when I wrote them." Laurel has spent 41 of his 61 years in public life. His party has control of the Senate, but he insists that he has no ambition to be President. "The happy man is he who has enough," he said recently. "I am not in love with money or power."

His great overriding purpose seems to be to rid the Philippines of Quirino. He and his followers believe that Quirino cannot possibly win again in a clean election.

"Very Unkind." Suave Elpidio Quirino apparently has no intention of stepping down to make way for Magsaysay. "Doctor Laurel," he said sneeringly of Laurel's proposition, "always presumes that I will commit fraud. Very unkind of him." Quirino obviously wants to vindicate himself and his administration at the polls. Some of his followers in outlying provinces have been anything but upright, and must, indeed, regard with great fear the prospect of a change in administration after which they would probably be investigated and would possibly be jailed. A master political strategist, Quirino is busily playing up Laurel's alleged anti-Americanism among the Filipinos, who still feel a tie of sentiment to the U.S. and a reliance on U.S. aid.

To Ramon Magsaysay, an appointee of

Quirino and a member of the President's Liberal Party, praise from Quirino's deadliest political enemy is already proving embarrassing, and it may ultimately prove to be dangerous. A man of great energy and ability and of indisputable honesty, Magsaysay is normally ambitious, and would, in usual circumstances, aspire to direct the destiny of his country. Already Magsaysay finds jealousy and suspicious scowls on the faces of his Liberal Party colleagues at presidential cabinet meetings, and some have taken to cutting him dead. Quirino recognizes the folly of seeming to sabotage so popular a national hero. Recently he made a great show of amiable conferences with Magsaysay aboard the presidential yacht.

But behind the scenes there has been high-level tampering with the army, in which Magsaysay has not been consulted, and Quirino's so-called "inner cabinet," which does not include the Defense Secretary, has reportedly been talking about imposing martial law and jailing the political opposition on charges of dealing with the Communists. There are many here who fear that neither the ideal of democratic elections nor the life of Ramon Magsaysay can be considered safe under such circumstances. There may be more anomalies, and serious ones, in the offing for the Philippines.

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