Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-01
BY JUNIUS B. WOOD.

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By JUNIUS b. WOOD.
MANILA, Philippine Islands N.A.
N.A.)-"The speaker Of the evening
needs no introduction" saves lot
Of words for any POSTMASTER or audi
ence, and Manuel L. Quezon and Ser
gio Osmenya are sufficiently known IN
the United States of today.
They have made 30 many pilgrim
ages to Washington In the cause OF
Philippine independence and have
been so consistently mentioned in all
news from the islands on that subject
that their names are synonymous with
the cause. As there Is only one office
Of President and both aspired to be
the Filipino George Washington,
there was some difncult5 at first.
Aguinaldo Also Candidate.
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, another can
didate, may need some introduction to
the present generation. He was leading
an instruction against the Spaniards
in 1896. two years before the islands
were coded to the United States. He
went to Hongkong. The American
Navy brought him back to continue
the fighting, but the mild-mannered
school teacher did not understand in
dependence as. meaning merely a
change in masters, and he set up the
first Philippine Republic. Our soldiers
collapsed under the tropical sun.
doundered in rice paddles and nursed
oolo and machete cuts for several years
before he was subdued. He promised
to kept out of politics. and. while
never renouncing independence, In
later years openly supported the pro-
gram Of the United States and pa
tiently waited until independence was
granted.
Bishop Gregorio Aglipay, head of
the Philippine Independent Church,
Is the only other serious candidate
for President. He is o militant, mid
dle-aged cleric who withdrew from
the Roman Catholic Church and built
up sect Of several hundred thou
sand followers whose tenets are judged
to be a mixture of Catholicism and
Unitarianism. In several provinces
of the islands he will receive a heavy
vote.
Quezon Election Assured.
Few doubt that Quezon will be
elected President. Osmenya is as
sured of election as Vice President,
as there is no other candidate. Each
is Sc, Quezon a few months the elder.
Through the years they have sepa-
rated and united like two drops of
quicksilver. and this year they were
separated, each candidate for the
highest Office when the campaign
started.
The Yanco twins of politics." Gen.
Aguinaldo dubbed them without q
smile when he talked with me. They
take opposite sides merely to fool
the Filipinos, but they are always
together. for, If they ever were sepa-
rated it would be their political
death"
That Is a pure Filipino smile. The
Yanco twins, grown together at birth
and now full-grown men, are the
Siamese twins Of the Philippines.
Once I watched them play q game
Of billiards with each other, ground
rules being that one must not move
when the other had the cue.
Occupies Quaint Quarters.
Agulnaldo's campaign headquarters
are away from the center of Manila
in a rambling frame building along
the crowded docks of the Pasig River.
Across its front is big sign, Vet
Grams de la Revolution" and he Is
in the Veteraas' Club room, on the
second floor. Faded framed pictures
are on the walls.
One shows the Aguinaldo army
headquarters in San Miguel in the
Biak-na-bata Mountains in 1897, a
big matched house on bamboo poles.
Barefoot soldiers are in front and on
the balcony are group Of insurrecto
leaders and four Spanish officers, one
of them Primo de Rtvero, then a
lieutenant colonel and later dictator
of Spain. At that time Aguinaldo
agreed to go to Hongkong and Spain
promised the islands representation
in the Spanish Cortes and to limit
the power of the friars He went,
but Spain, possibly for lack of time,
did neither.
Another Is of inauguration day of
the first Philippine Republic, January
%, 1899, after the United States was
in possession. 1t shows the Plaza
of Malolos, more barefoot soldiers,
cheering men and women, a band
Congressman with silk hats and others
with none, and President Alexandra
Palermo in an open-faceo phaeton.
Memento Of Late King.
Then there is a diploma of the
Spanish Red Cross, presented to 1.-THE
President of the Filipino Republic by
the late King Alfonso XII of Spain
in 1908, though Aguinaldo had sur
rendered to the United States March
%, 1901, and the Instruction had
ended Is months later. A smaller
photograph is of his staff of those
years-grim, muStached, hard young
men, much different from their status
OF today, for one is now a judge, an
other the director Of health and a
third a governor. Finally. too new
to gather dust, is photograph OF
the Philippine constitutional conven-
ton of 1884.
Aguinaldo seems never to change,
dignified, self-possessed, quiet spoken,
the same slow smile and square-cut
pompadour without o white hair.
though he Is 66. He says the people
are ready for independence and are
tired of being misled BY their leaders,
and that independence should come
in three or five years, not 10 years.
Bishop Aglipay's platform also calls
for q change in rulers, meaning Que
ION and Osmenya.
II do not fear their wealth or in
huence. but We must fight against
fraud at the polls" Aguinaldo de-
clares.