Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, South and Southeast Asia, Volume XV

446. Memorandum of a Conversation, Manila, December 16, 1959¹

Manila, December 16, 1959

PARTICIPANTS

• Ferdinand Marcos, Senator-Elect
• Lloyd Free, Special Consultant with USIA, Washington
• H.L.T. Koren, Counselor of Embassy for Political Affairs, Manila

Last night Senator-Elect and Mrs. Marcos came to dinner, both for the purpose of catching up with him again now that the elections campaign is over, and also so that Lloyd Free could meet him. The three of us had a long talk both before and after dinner—both rehashing the elections and talking about the future.

A lot of the election discussion confirmed from Marcos’ viewpoint what we have already put in our despatches. Marcos reiterated what he had already told Leon O. Ty and had appeared in the Free Press ascribing his success to the Ilocano clannishness and the fact that the Ilocanos are spread pretty generally throughout many of the key provinces, his activities as minority floor leader, his having constantly kept in touch with leaders, constituents and practically anybody who had contacted him personally or by letter throughout the country, the solid basis of the 6–8 hundred thousand party machine votes, the effectiveness of his campaign theme against corruption of the Garcia administration, his constructive attitude and program for economic reform and reducing the plight of the common tao,² his personal connections with the North and South and his wife’s with the Visayas and, last but not least, the effective support that his wife’s campaigning gave him. In passing he said that he thought that the women’s vote was becoming increasingly important and it had counted in his and Fernandez’ victories.³

With regard to the future he readily admitted that he was probably the most sought after man politically in the Philippines for already he had Vice Presidential overtures from Lacson, Osmena⁴ and even Garcia. The latter had come not directly but through an emissary, and he had no doubt as to its validity, whereby the President had said that if he wanted the VP slot with him Marcos had the option of it. He thought that this was pretty amusing and said that it indicated conclusively to him that, as of now, Garcia was definitely a candidate.

With regard to Macapagal’s leadership, he was cautious and said that as of now Macapagal was the Liberal candidate and therefore he had made his immediate post-election statement that he was supporting the latter for President. Marcos said that he felt that whoever was the candidate of a cohesive Liberal Party was almost a sure winner. The big problem was to make the party cohesive. He was primarily interested in that and said there was time enough to decide the question of candidates.

The discussion revealed some interesting aspects of his relations with Macapagal and his estimate of him. Marcos said that Macapagal had been dead set against coalition from the beginning and that he, Marcos, had an uphill fight to get him even to consider it and, as a matter of fact, Macapagal would discuss coalition only with him so that he became the LP spokesman. He had tried in vain to break down Macapagal’s rigid attitude because he felt that coalition was the golden chance. Macapagal’s attitude had revealed a weakness which had disappointed him. He was interested to hear Free’s impressions of Macapagal and nodded in agreement when Free said that he had found Macapagal on the whole a disappointment. Free felt that while Macapagal had talked easily to him of his Liberal program for the future, it had a platitudinous ring and he felt that Macapagal lacked sincerity and depth. Macapagal had seemed more interested in how to become President than in the more basic national issues. I gained the impression that Marcos felt that first priority was the strengthening of the party and that he was going to bide his time and not make any early decision as to his own political moves. My guess is that he is very receptive to a Vice Presidency slot but he has not discounted his chances to be top banana.

Marcos, as an individual, is an attractive, vigorous, sharp, coolly canny person with a disarmingly modest attitude. His smashing success does not seem to have gone to his head. While he could easily edge out Padilla⁵ from the minority floor leadership, he said that Padilla wanted it and as far as he was concerned he could have it but he would abide by the decision of the party. He said that Villareal⁶ would take his old job as House Minority Floor leader and that there would be several assistants. He said Garcia was using many tricks to try and oust Rodriguez from the Senate Presidency which would automatically lose him the party’s presidency. Since the NP was fairly evenly split in the Senate, the LP members might well determine Rodriguez’ fate which, if it occurred, would result in his staying in.

During the evening the conversation got off the immediate questions of Philippine politics into the realm of philosophy and theorizing on the future of the country and its position in Asia. This provided Marcos with a number of opportunities to expound on his own philosophy and ideas. It was disappointing to note that he had little to offer and, what he did, seemed to lack depth and scope. This may not be entirely fair because we did not specifically press him but when he volunteered ideas, for instance, in the economic realm, he did not show any particular breadth of understanding of the problems and talked more in terms of what the current administration was doing that was harmful. Likewise, he did not respond with his own thoughts to the very cogent analysis by Free as to how the Philippines is a country in search of a destiny, national identity and national image. If Marcos had thoughts on these subjects and along this vein it would have been only natural for him to voice them during our discussion which lasted long and late. Certainly somebody like Manglapus or Pelaez would have. The net result was a feeling of disappointment. Here was a man who stood at the pinnacle of political success and, while young, still had considerable political maturity with the brightest possible future ahead of him and yet you questioned whether he was sufficiently broad gauge to fill the very obvious present lack in the Philippines. This does not mean that he will not be a good Senator, which he undoubtedly will be, nor that he will not develop along constructive lines and serve creditably in whatever positions he occupies. He could also be a good President but you have the feeling that he should have an idea man along with him to balance his own obvious administrative talents. It may be of course that he has thoughts that he did not express but nevertheless it was disappointing that he did not offer something to indicate that he had them, because, as a political figure and a young leader in a country woefully lacking in potential leaders, he has everything else.

1. Source: Department of State, SPA Files: Lot 64 D 391, Memoranda of Conversation. Confidential. Drafted by Koren on December 17.
2. The common man in Tagalog.
3. In the November 1959 senatorial election, Estanislao A. Fernandez (Liberal Party) received almost 2 million votes; Marcos received 2½ million votes.
4. Arsenio H. Lacson, Mayor of Manila, and Sergio Osmena, Jr., Mayor of Cebu, both members of the Nationalist Party.
5. Ambrosio Padilla, Philippine Senator, member of the Liberal Party and his party’s Floor Leader.
6. Cornelio T. Villareal had been a Liberal Party candidate for the Senate, but did not win a seat in the 1959 election.