This Saturday, Aug. 31, is the 117th birth anniversary of the late Ramon Del Fierro Magsaysay, the 7th president of the Philippine republic. Born in 1907, “The Guy” was only 49 when his plane, the Mount Pinatubo, crashed in Cebu in March 1957 killing all but one of its passengers. To many who remember him, he was the country’s best president.

Ramon Magsaysay (RM) was elected to office in November 1953. He did not get to finish his four-year term. He would have gone for reelection in November 1957, and according to some accounts, would have most likely won. But a second term was not meant to be for the “Guy.” His only son and namesake, Jun Magsaysay, would later serve four years in Congress and 12 years in the Senate.

When RM took office in January 1954, he was taking over the government of a country that has just been ravaged by war, and was in the midst of reestablishing its economy as it sought war reparations. The Philippines had significant national debt because of post-war reconstruction; the government was running a budget deficit; economic growth was uneven; and rural poverty was significant.

RM wanted to prioritize rural development and social services, but the government was short of funds. So, in February 1954, soon after taking office, he issued Executive Order No. 11 creating a committee under the Department of Health that would take charge of the construction of artesian wells nationwide. This was in recognition of the people’s urgent need for greater access to clean and potable water.

In rural Philippines, then and now, water is power. Beyond irrigation, access to clean and potable water and proper sanitation facilities are among the factors significantly impacting public health, peace, and economic growth. Realizing this, RM also knew that the cash-strapped government needed the help of the private sector. Under his EO 11, a committee was formed known as the “Liberty Wells Association.” It was tasked to solicit “funds and materials to be used exclusively for the construction and development of artesian wells and other sources of potable water supply for rural communities lacking in financial resources, to provide an adequate and safe water supply.”

The Association was tasked “to see to it that the moneys and materials donated to constitute the fund are used solely to carry out the purposes of the donation,” and to “recommend to the government measures calculated to facilitate and further the establishment of community water supplies.” Also, the Association was to set the rules for the selection of installation sites.

The Secretary of Health was designated ex-officio chairman of the Association, whose members were “donors of P5,000 or more and those who have rendered very signal service to the Association. The members [of the Association] shall be appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Executive Committee.”

EO 11 further states that “all contributions to the Association shall be deposited with any bank or banks designated by the Executive Committee. Disbursements from the fund shall be made with the approval of the Executive Committee upon checks signed by the Chairman and Treasurer and supported by vouchers approved by authorized officials representing the Philippine Council for United States Aid and the Foreign Operations Administration.” And to encourage contributions, the President ordered that all “contributions to the Association fall within the tax exemptions prescribed for income and gift taxes.”

Also, “none of the moneys or materials contributed shall be used for any purpose other than for the labor and materials required to establish artesian wells or develop water supplies. The department heads concerned are authorized and directed to apply public funds legally available for the purpose to defray expenses of surveys, technical supervision, transportation, inspection, administration, and surcharges.”

Admittedly, under today’s procurement and auditing rules, EO 11 would have been questioned. But in RM’s day, lack of government funds would not have been an acceptable excuse not to help, particularly the poor. Not under RM anyway, whose government vowed to give people who have less in life more in law. And so, EO 11 came to pass.

It was, to an extent, the precursor of the Public-Private Partnership. And, maybe in that sense, RM was ahead of his time. He figured the Department of Health was the appropriate lead for the artesian wells program, probably seeing it more as a public health rather than a public works initiative. And perhaps rightly so. Lack of water and sanitation is a public health nightmare.

It may have been a calculated move on RM’s part. An initiative that can win votes particularly in the countryside. One cannot discount the value of donors, obviously. However, while plaques may be affixed at well sites giving credit to donors, people will also remember the very government that started the initiative in the first place. As if RM was not popular enough.

But in this case, I am more inclined to believe that the driving force for EO 11 was RM’s earnest desire to help the rural poor. However, given the government’s limited resources, tapping the private sector was his alternative. Bayanihan may have been foremost in his mind, because he was that kind of man.

Former UP President Jose Veloso Abueva, in his second edition of Ramon Magsaysay: “Servant Leader” with a Vision of Hope, published 2012, wrote about RM: “Restlessly energetic, Magsaysay demanded action and was impatient for results, as reflected in his impulsive personality and kinetic behavior. For he was preeminently a man of action, a pragmatist, an improviser. He absorbed ideas from many sources, even as he generated several of his own.

“Magsaysay was not consciously guided by articulated theories of social reform or economic development. His approach to problems was pragmatic, not ideological,” Abueva wrote. He added that RM also believed that “the government starts at the bottom and moves upward, for the government exists basically for the welfare of the masses”

Truly, as a man and as a leader, RM is worth remembering on his 117th birth anniversary.

Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council

matort@yahoo.com