The remarkable life of a soldier who rose to defense chief, was declared a hero for his role in the People’s Power Revolution, and was elected President of the Philippines (1992-1998) ended at age 94, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, July 31, 2022, at the Makati Medical Center.
He was former President Fidel V. Ramos, Manila Bulletin columnist who wrote a Sunday column from 2005 to 2018, over 600 pieces that overflow with wit and wisdom. Those columns, plus some 18 books which he authored (although there may be more titles that as of now are not included in the lists of Amazon and Google Books) ensures that FVR, as he was known, through his words, will live forever.
According to reports, Ramos launched his 14th book – Prosper Thy Neighbor –in 2018. The book is a compilation of his weekly columns in Manila Bulletin and touched on a variety of topics –poverty, climate change, terrorism, law enforcement.
“FVR’s reprinted columns are written seriously, marching forth like a soldier’s measured cadence,” journalist Domini M. Torrevillas wrote in her column in another daily paper, which was quoted in FVR’s last column on Nov. 25, 2018.
His column, titled “On Empowering the Filipino People,” was published every Sunday on the opinion-editorial section of the Manila Bulletin. His first column on May 8, 2005 was announced in the front page of Manila Bulletin.
He started his last column – “UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals” – with a casual goodbye: “About three months ago, I informed the management and readership of Manila Bulletin of the doctor’s advice for me to go on medical leave, which I did starting 19 October 2018 – with a request to accommodate for publication in the same column space any article I might submit from time-to-time, when opportunities arise.”
The crucial issue he discussed in that column was poverty, the “root cause of most problems…the reduction of which is the first priority of the United Nations framework titled: Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Much wisdom has been shared through FVR’s regular weekly columns written as a private citizen while heading the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation, which he founded after he stepped down from the presidency.
Here are a few which can be viewed through the column titles:
• PNP-SAF: The willing, committed, and brave, May 17, 2015
• Time to develop Western Palawan, May 24, 2015
• Perform, reform, transform for the New Year, Jan. 1, 2017
• Another ending, new beginning – to go where? (The start of a new administration), May 22, 2016
• The United Nations: Our bridge to the future, Sept. 24, 2017
• More terrorism, World War III and natural/manmade calamities? – March 25, 2018
Before he was elected President, he served as the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Corazon C. Aquino’s administration.
When he threw his support for former President Corazon C. Aquino in 1986, Ramos was then the Philippine Constabulary chief and the vice chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Marcos administration.
Ramos was the secretary of National Defense before he ran for president in the 1992 elections.
FVR is also referred to as the “Centennial President.” It was under his administration when the country commemorated the centennial of the Philippine declaration of independence of June 12, 1898. His program – Philippines 2000 – envisioned the Philippines as a newly industrialized country by year 2000.
To former Manila Bulletin reporter who covered him at the defense beat and later as President, Aris Ilagan, FVR was an “extraordinary and humble leader.”
“He went to the Manila Bulletin office to give me a handwritten letter thanking me for covering his presidential campaign,” Aris said when asked what was his fondest memory of the former president.