Former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos laid to rest at Libingan ng Mga Bayani

Former Philippine President Fidel v. Ramos was laid to rest on August 9, Tuesday morning, at Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig City.

A former chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and secretary of the Department of National Defense, Ramos was accorded a state funeral with full military honors.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos (PBBM), Jr. attended the funeral and stood beside Ramos’ widow, former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos during the final rites for the Philippines’ 12th president. Ramos was a cousin of PBBM’s father, the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Ramos, who served as president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, died last July 31 at the age of 94.

He is credited for starting the Philippines on its path towards economic growth and political stability in the 1990s. During the first years of his presidency, Ramos fast-tracked new power generation projects to address the crippling daily outages that stalled the economy. Under the Ramos administration, the Philippines transformed from being the “sick man of Asia” into one of the fastest-growing economies in the Asia Pacific.

Ramos is also remembered for pursuing peace and negotiation with various rebel groups. His government signed a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996, thereby putting an end to decades of armed conflict. Ramos also conducted reconciliation talks with Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front. The Ramos administration created the National Unification Commission, whose aim was to forge a viable general amnesty program and process that will bring a just, comprehensive and lasting peace to all Filipinos.