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Xo4Ael4s December 52.
- page three ¬
Led by the very able secr tary of war, Magsaysay — by the vay, a
presidential possibility in the next election - the vonstabulary
force has been able to pacify vast regions of the o untrye dhe
Rhuks today have lost a great number of its best leaders. in fact,
Ramon Magsaysay's sweep on ranay has eliminated there the huks all
together. ‘he v ry important ho k intelligence and underground
organization in Manila has been virtually vipea out. Today, the
only serious huk distumbance area is stili ventral Luzon, especially
North and “outh-sast of Manila. there the huks still have an army
f between 25 and 95.000 men. these are the best forces they can
muster and they will be able to put up a very tough resistance.
“hey are still well armed, though it has now be possibl» to cut them
off virt ally from all outside supplies, which were smuggled in
from China of the Vietminh areas. she military leadership of the.
Huks is in the hands of General Casto Alexandrejo, a fanatical
communiste It is interesting to note that the General is the son
of the largest and pripka probably most oppressive lLanduwner of
Luzon. He is the man of ability, energy and unbelievable brutality.
In fact, he is considered to be a match to Magsaysay. he old leader
of the Hukbalahap, Luis Taruc, has now been relievea of all military
charges. His activity is purely political. Compared to two years 5
ago, or even to last year, the situation is infinitely more favorable
for the government. It is possible that Magsaysay is right when he
forecasts that by next June or July, the whol~ Huk war might be
virtually over. yut this is by no means a certainety. And furthermore
it seems certain to this observer, that at least on a small bandit
sca}e, the Muk war can go on for years. +ut this naturally would
no longer mean the same dif“iculties, as it did before. H nce, the
optimism of the Philippino leadcrs is justified.
Concerning the econoflic situation, the potentialities an
the rhilippine islands are still and continue to be enormouSs Basic
trouble nevertheless continues t be the agricultural structure ana
the ter-itorial overpopulation. “he greatest difficulty is, that
population is very badly distributed on the rhilippines. While Luzon
is terribly overcrowded, the other islands, espeeially rich Mindanao,
are practically empty. Unfortunatey, the p asants on Luzon are
absolutely unwilling to shift to the empty arcas ena cling to their
soil. hence, production cannot be kept upe tha land itstbf on
Luzon is widely in the hanis of large landowners, who have enormous
incomes and face a population in abject poverty. he greatness of
the income of the landowners has also another deplorable results
Since on the islands agriculture yields gr ater retumn than industry,
Philip ino capital goes primarily into the purchase of estates,
instead of investing in new enterprises. fhe result is, that money
is extremely dear and that thore is considerable trouble to start
nev industrial ventures, due to lack of capital. The government has
been keenly aware of this for a considerable time. the obvious effort
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