MANILA, Philippines (Washington Insider Magazine) – Fidel Valdez Ramos, a former general trained in the United States who served in the Vietnam and Korean wars and was a significant figure in the 1986 pro-democracy rebellion that led to the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., has passed away. He was 94.
In a brief announcement that requested privacy, Ramos’ family confirmed his passing with extreme sorrow but did not disclose any other information.
Ramos had dementia and a heart problem, according to Norman Legaspi, one of his former aides, who told The Associated Press that Ramos has been in and out of the hospital frequently in recent years.
When Ramos passed away on Sunday at the Makati Medical Center in metropolitan Manila, several of his family members were there, according to Legaspi.
In a Facebook message, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. offered his condolences. He remarked, “We did not only lose a good leader but also a member of the family.”
The recently elected president is the namesake son of the previous dictator of the Philippines, whose overthrow in 1986 followed the defections of Ramos, then the head of the Philippine Constabulary, and defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, which sparked sizable army-backed demonstrations.
Ramos, the late dictator’s second cousin, had assisted him in enforcing martial law in 1972, which resulted in thousands of individuals being tortured, imprisoned, or falling prey to extrajudicial executions and disappearances.
Ramos managed the modernisation of the military, one of Asia’s most underfunded, according to the Department of National Defense, which he formerly chaired. He was a distinguished soldier. He set up the country’s police and army’s elite special forces.
The European Union, the United States, and other international governments sent their condolences.
The cigar-chomping Ramos, who succeeded democracy’s poster child Corazon Aquino as president from 1992 to 1998, was well-known for his attention to detail, thumbs-up gesture, and powerful handshakes.
After the mainly peaceful “People Power” uprising that overthrew the older Marcos and signaled the end of authoritarian governments across the world, he was swiftly elected president in 1986.
Ramos sprang triumphantly with his hands raised in a pivotal moment of the uprising as Enrile inspired a throng beneath a Philippine flagpole, earning cheers and applause from the rebel troops as the tide shifted against Marcos. The action was documented by an AP photographer and a few other photojournalists, and Ramos acted it out every year on the anniversary of the revolution until his declining health and advancing age made it impossible for him to do so.
Marcos was exiled to the United States, where he died in 1989, together with his family and associates.
Ramos protected Aquino from many violent coup attempts after she was elected president. He subsequently advanced to the position of defense secretary and became the military’s top general.
Ramos was elected president of the primarily Roman Catholic country in 1992 after winning the election. Major reforms and initiatives to break up monopolies in the telecoms and other corporate sectors during his administration helped the poor Southeast Asian nation improve its image, win accolades from business leaders, and spark a rare economic boom.
His administration and the Moro National Liberation Front, the main Muslim separatist organisation at the time in the turbulent southern Philippines, the country’s heartland of minority Muslims, signed a peace agreement in 1996, which is one of his accomplishments.
Ramos was nicknamed as “Steady Eddie” because of his ability to remain calm under pressure.
Ramos, a son of a former lawmaker and foreign secretary, earned his degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1950. He served in the Vietnam War as a non-combat civil military engineer and was a member of the Philippine combat unit that fought in the Korean War.
Ramos leaves behind his wife Amelita Ramos, a school administrator, athlete, pianist, and environmentalist, along with their four kids. Josephine Ramos-Samartino, their second child, died in 2011. NBC NEWS reports that funeral plans were not immediately made public.