‘We, the International Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (Chapter 045) mourn the passing of our member, Fidel V. Ramos.’
FIDEL Valdez Ramos became the 12th President of the Philippines when he took office in 1992, the Centenary of the Founding of the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan.
In his first State of the Nation Address, President Ramos told the world: “We stand on the threshold of destiny. The end of my term will coincide with the centennial of our declaration of independence. Six years hence, the governments this nation has endured will pass in review and receive the judgment of history. They will be asked what they will do, what they did with the country’s independence. My administration will be the last before the centennial. That is my luck, for it will naturally receive the closest scrutiny. It is not only the spirit of independence that will demand a reckoning. In the next six years, the nation will commemorate other great centennials: the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the Battle of Pinaglabanan, the execution of Rizal. One hundred years of sacrifice and struggle. The ghosts of a generation of founding heroes shall step from their monuments to demand an accounting of the legacy they left behind.”
[https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/07/27/fidel-v-ramos-first-state-of-the-nation-address-july-27-1992/]
That earthly reckoning concluded for FVR on 31 July 2022: “The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court lead the entire Judiciary in mourning the passing of former President Fidel V. Ramos… President Ramos was a true defender of freedom and democracy who had shown courage and loyalty to the country with his years in public service, including as a veteran of several military campaigns. He was also a visionary President, who set out important social and economic reforms which Filipinos enjoy even up to this time.” [https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/29006/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=statement-of-the-supreme-court-on-the-passing-of-president-fidel-v-ramos]
As for legacy, we have a sampling from 1992:
1. “We need to generate from among us a civic revolution–an explosion of social energy –which must begin in our hearts and minds as one people. It must begin as a revolution in social attitudes, in civic commitment. Civic responsibility has always been the price of freedom. We must accept that national society is more –much more– than just an aggregation of individuals or families or clans. We must realize that every human society is a partnership of the connected generations of changing persons that include not only those who are living but those who are dead and those yet to be born. And we cannot continue–as we have done in the past–to pass the buck to some future generation. There is no one here but us: We are responsible for one another.” [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/10/08/speech-of-president-ramos-on-his-first-100-days/]
2. “Of course, there are potential flash points–like the Spratlys–which remain. But disputes like this always crop up among neighbor-countries–if they don’t, then governments would have no need for foreign ministers: I trust (as I’m sure the other heads of state do) that resolving them is not beyond your collective ingenuity.” [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/07/17/speech-of-president-ramos-at-the-25th-association-of-southeast-asian-nations-foreign-ministers-meeting/]
3. “A peace with honor. Today’s repeal of the law outlawing the Communist Party and penalizing membership in it moves forward our efforts to attain enduring peace. The historic significance of this new Republic Act is underlined by the fact that it is the very first law that the ninth Congress has passed and the first one which this President has approved. Republic Act 1700 was passed 35 years age–when Communism seemed the wave of the future–by a Philippine State fearful of being submerged in its tide. Today we repeal it–confident of our national stability and confirmed in the resilience of our democracy. By assuring Communist insurgents of political space, we also challenge them to compete under our constitutional system and free market of ideas–which are guaranteed by the rule of law.” [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/09/02/speech-of-president-ramos-at-the-signing-of-the-bill-repealing-the-anti-subversion-law/]
4. “Doing as Rizal prescribed. If we are to attain what Rizal wished for his posterity — ‘More law and greater liberty’— we must do as he prescribed. We must stifle our dissensions and summon once more the spirit of this nation. As Rizal foresaw, the time has come to tell ourselves that if we wish to be saved, we must redeem ourselves. And in this work of self-redemption, we must ‘expend the whole light of our intellect, and all the fervor of our hearts.’ For most of my public life, I have been mainly a citizen soldier, wanting in eloquence compared to those who have preceded me in this rite of democratic transition.
But I share their vision of what our nation can become. This nation will endure, this nation will prevail and this nation will prosper again—if we hold together.”
[https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/06/30/inaugural-address-of-president-ramos-june-30-1992/]
We, the International Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (Chapter 045) mourn the passing of our member, Fidel V. Ramos.
