Raul S Manglapus

A Pen for Democracy Raul S Manglapus

A PEN FOR DEMOCRACY A decade of articles, speeches, letters, interviews, and committee testimony published in the international press and the U. S. Congressional Record in the tradition of the Filipino democrats a centuiy ago. Edited and with a foreword by Lilia Ramos-de Leon Washington Office Movement for a Free Philippines (MFP) ] + + + PREFACE The first edition of this book is an exile one, having been published in Washington, D. C when Ferdinand Marcos still held on to power in the Philippines. When films of its pages were mailed for printing here in 1984, these were confiscated at the Sta. Mesa Post Office and held by the Postmaster General on the ground that they contain matter advocating or inciting treason, rebellion, insurrection or sedition against the Government of the Philippines." Ramon Tagle, then the secretary general of the Christian Social Democratic Party of the Philippines, to whom the materials were addressed, had to sue in court to secure the materials. This edition, the second, was printed in the Philippines after People Power toppled the dictator, enabling of Raul S. Manglapus to come home after fourteen long years. Manglapus never let the momentum of his fight against tyranny slacken, more so during those years when in the Philippines, the silence of apathy and fear prevailed. This book keeps track of his battling with pen and oratory. When President Corazon Aquino ran against Marcos in the snap polls, Manglapus expressed enthusiastic support for her in speeches and articles. Since the first edition closed with October of 1983, the year Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated, this edition was put out to include those essays and speeches that came out in newspapers after the last piece in the previous publishing. Lilia Ramos-de Leon Manila, Philippines May 24, 1986 + + + Appendix J About Raul S. Manglapus + + + His bio-data tells of distinction and achievement in 1957, at the age of 38, he was the youngest Filipino ever to hold the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In 1961, he topped the winning senatorial line-up; and in 1970, again as a top-notcher, he was elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he became leader of the Progressives. He was named Most Outstanding Young Man in the Government in 1955, and Outstanding Senator in 1963 and 1964. He was Secretary General of the first SEATO Conference (1954) and a delegate to the Bandung Conference (1955). From 1968 to the present, he has been the president of the Christian Social Movement Since 1979 he has been president of the Democracy International, based in Washington, D. C., and since 1982 vice-president of the Christian Democratic International based in Rome. When he had barely started his career, he preferred imprisonment and torture in Fort Santiago to collaboration with the enemy; and when he escaped, he joined the freedom-fighters in the mountains. His choice of endeavors in his years of exile have been clearly influenced by idealism. In 1973, he founded and became the president of the Movement for a Free Philippines. He taught as a visiting professor and Senior Reasearch Associate in Cornell University, N. Y. (1973-74), served as Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1974-75) and as Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, D. C. (1976-80). At present, he is the president of the Center for Development Policy in Washington. D. C.