Jim Gomez
Soldiers carry a coffin containing the urn of late Philippine President Fidel Ramos during a state funeral at the Heroes Cemetery in Taguig City, Philippines, on August 9. (Lisa Marie David/Pool Photo via AP)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, hailed as a former general who supported and helped overthrow a dictatorship and became a democratic and aggressive defender of democracy, rested at a state funeral on Aug. 9. reformers in poor Asian countries.
Ramos died of complications from COVID-19 at the Makati Medical Center in the Capital Region on July 31 at the age of 94, his family said. He also suffers from heart disease and dementia and has been in and out of the hospital in recent years, the former aide said.
An urn containing the ashes of U.S.-trained generals who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars was placed in a flag-draped coffin, carried by six pallbearers to somber music.
After a funeral procession led by an honor guard and his family, his cremated remains were laid in his grave, and two helicopters sprinkled petals. The ceremony, which was broadcast nationally by state-run and major television networks, was attended by newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and ended with a 21-gun salute.
Marcos, who visited Ramos’ body last week and offered his condolences to Ramos’ family, said Ramos “was a symbol of stability after all the turbulent events of 1986.”
Marcos Jr., the eponymous son of the former Filipino dictator, stepped down in 1986 after Ramos, then a senior Philippine police officer, and Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile ) after withdrawing support for defections that sparked massive army-backed protests.
Ramos, the late dictator’s second cousin, helped the elder Marcos enforce martial law from 1972, when thousands were imprisoned, tortured and victims of extrajudicial killings and disappearances By.
Ramos was buried near the dictator’s grave and was buried with military honors in 2016 after then-President Rodrigo Duterte approved and the Supreme Court rejected objections from human rights activists At the Heroes Cemetery, a secret ceremony was held. .
The Defense Ministry, once headed by Ramos, said he was a soldier of military merit and a pioneer in modernizing the military in Asia, one of the most underfunded countries in Asia. He organized the elite special forces of the army and the national police.
Known for his “we can do it” call to Filipinos, thumbs up, attention to detail and firm handshake, the cigar-smoking Ramos took over from democracy icon Corazon from 1992 to 1998. Corazon Aquino became president.
She was swept into the presidency in 1986 after a largely peaceful “people power” uprising toppled dictators and heralded change in authoritarian regimes around the world.
Marcos, his family and cronies were forced into exile in the United States and died in 1989.
After Aquino’s ascension to the presidency, Ramos became chief of military staff and later defense secretary, successfully protecting her from several violent coup attempts. In 1992, Ramos won the presidential election, becoming the first Protestant president of the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
During his six-year term, he has introduced major reforms and attempted to dismantle telecom and other business monopolies, sparking a rare economic boom, boosting the impoverished Southeast Asian nation’s image and winning over business leaders and the international community. praise.
In his final State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in 1997, Ramos said the country would only be able to eradicate poverty if it had sustained development, modern agriculture, industrialization and adequate infrastructure. But he stressed that it was vital for Filipinos to uphold democracy.
“We cannot let our democracy die — because Philippine democracy is our unique comparative advantage in the new global order,” Ramos said at the time. “Growth is meaningless without freedom. So freedom, markets and progress go hand in hand.”
One of his legacy was the 1996 peace agreement signed between his government and the Moro National Liberation Front, the largest Muslim separatist group in the then turbulent southern Philippines and home to a minority of Muslims.
Ramos’ calm demeanor in times of crisis, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis, earned him the nickname “Stable Eddie.”
Ramos, the son of a longtime legislator and foreign secretary, graduated from West Point in 1950. He was a member of the Philippine Combat Detachment that fought in the Korean War and also served in the Vietnam War as a civilian. Combat Civilian Military Engineer.
