Marcos Jr., House leaders remember Ramos for leadership and service
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a ten-day period of national mourning for former President Fidel V. Ramos, who died on Sunday.
Marcos issued the proclamation to "pay tribute to an esteemed leader who has dedicated his life to public service and has left a lasting mark on our country" on Sunday, a copy of which was released on Monday.
A resolution was also filed at the House of Representatives, where the president’s cousin and son sit as House speaker and senior deputy majority leader respectively, expressing condolences to the family of Ramos, who was chairperson emeritus of the resurgent Lakas-CMD party.
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While both documents remembered Ramos as a visionary president with a long storied career in the military and as a "true statesman", the tributes omitted his pivotal role in the EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted clan patriarch Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
Among the signatories of the resolution are House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, and Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan (4PS party-list).
The House leaders remembered Ramos for his distinguished career as a military officer and a president whose vision "paved the way for real economic gains."
The four-page resolution also hailed Ramos’ socio-economic framework, his numerous abd notable executive orders and for being one of the founders of Lakas-CMD,
"A pillar of strength, and a true statesman, the demise of the former President Fidel Valdez Ramos is a huge loss to the whole country, and he will always be remembered as one of the great leaders who took good governance to heart," the resolution read.
Ramos and Marcoses
Ramos was a second cousin of the elder Marcos and headed the Philippine Constabulary during Martial Law until but he and then-Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile — key figures in the EDSA event that toppled the dictatorship — staged a coup d’etat against Marcos. Opposition figures and Church leaders later urged people to go to EDSA to help protect Ramos and Enrile from the military.
In an interview with Los Angeles Times in 1992, Ramos was quoted as saying "I would think Martial Law would be more harsh if I were not around… Because I was the senior general who could say no to Mr. Marcos."
According to Amnesty International, the elder Marcos' Martial Law rule from 1972 to 1981, saw about 70,000 imprisoned, 34,000 tortured and 3,240 killed. The president and his political allies dispute the number.
READ: Asked about Martial Law abuse, Marcos questions Amnesty International data
After toppling the dictatorship, Enrile became then President Corazon Aquino’s defense chief, but later resigned and ran for senator.
Ramos was appointed Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff and eventually defense secretary.
Enrile has since joined the Marcos Jr. Cabinet as chief legal counsel. — with a report from The STAR
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