The Radical Gadfly

The Radical Gadfly

This is the title given by the media people to the late Claro M. Recto the revered senator of the Republic of the Philippines way back in the 50's. The title Gadfly labelled to Sen. Recto was in fact the title of the novel written by the Irish writer Ethel Voynich published in 1897. It tellls the story of a British student who became a revolutionary and exposed the corruption of his government through his prolific writing style under the pseudonym The Gadfly. Because of his anti imperialist stand against the United States of America Claro M. Recto was likened to the hero of the said novel.

During his time as senator, Recto has been known for exposing the unfare treatment of the United States of America to the Philippines. Recto is the lone voice in the wilderness who denounced the unwelcome presence of the Military Bases of America in the Philippine island. In his monumental speech entitled THE MENDICANT FOREIGN POLICY the nationalist Recto criticized the surservient attitude of his fellow Filipino politians who were always begging for aid and assistance from the American government. Recto was also very vocal about his opposition to the Vietnam War launched by America. The dream of Mr. Recto is for the Philippines to have an independent foreign policy far from American influence.

Because of his stand against the American government he was labeled as a communist. When he ran for the presidential race the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engineered smear campaign to make sure that Recto will lost and indeed he lost that chance to be the president of the Philippines. Despite of this Recto continued his crusade against American imperialism. When Recto died millions of people mourned all freedom loving Filipinos felt the loss of a true nationalist. The Radical Gadfly has long been gone and the Philippine Senate and Congress after Recto was gone were filled by pro-American politicians who were always ready to lick the boots of their master. Good thing that we have Rodrigo Roa Duterte now as our president who like Recto is also a radical.