House extols FVR as leader who ‘took good governance to heart’

The House of Representatives on Monday adopted House Resolution 120 expressing condolences to the family of late President Fidel Ramos who died on Sunday at the age of 94.

House Resolution 120 described Ramos, who served as the country's President from 1992 to 1998, as a leader with resolute vision that paved the way for real economic gains which resulted in renewed confidence of the investors in the country and brought the Philippines to a budding tiger economy status with robust economic growth, exceptional political stability and peace agreements with  separatist groups, including the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Likewise, House Resolution 120 also lauded Ramos for addressing water and electricity crisis by privatizing  the water industry and reorganizing the state power company as well as authorizing the creation of new power plants.

"Former President Ramos spearheaded the strategic framework for socio-economic development known as the "Philippines 2000"   which   envisioned   the Philippines attaining  the  status of  a newly industrialized country by the year 2000 with programs that included peace and stability; economic growth and sustainable development; energy and power generation; environmental protection; and streamlined bureaucracy.

"President Ramos considered the presidency as both an honor and a privilege and believed it as a matter of destiny to give the people a better quality of life by building on the gains of democracy. Despite the many challenges his administration faced, former President Ramos remained committed in his duty to serve the country and inspired unity among the Filipino people with his famous quip, "Kaya ba natin ito? Kayang-kaya basta tayo ay sama-sama!," the Resolution said.

"A pillar of strength, and a true statesman, the demise of former President Fidel Valdez Ramos is a huge loss to the country, and he will always be remembered as one of the great leaders who took good governance to heart. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives, to express its profound condolences to the family of the Honorable Fidel Valdez Ramos, former President of the Republic of the Philippines, founder and Chairperson Emeritus of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD)," it added.

House Resolution 120 was authored by Speaker Martin Romualdez of Leyte, Manuel Dalipe of Zamboanga City, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan of 4PS party-list and House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro" Marcos of Ilocos Norte.

Giant among leaders

In a statement, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo expressed her condolences to Ramos' family as he honored the late president as a "giant among our leaders."

"War hero, model soldier, top-caliber diplomat, pillar of later-day Philippine democracy and a champion of our early moves towards globalization, FVR restored our economic competitiveness, having laid out the macro-economic directions for economic progress that the leaders succeeding him improved on," she said.

Arroyo said she is grateful to Ramos for supporting her presidential bid in 2004 and standing by her during coup attempts to remove her from office.

"Personally, I owe much to FVR. For one, he founded the LAKAS party which merged with my KAMPI. His was the strongest among the voices that rooted for me when the party’s presidential candidate was being discussed in 2004," she said.

"And I will forever remember how he threw his full support for me during the failed coups in the later part of my Presidency," she added.—LDF, GMA News