Former president of the Philippines Fidel V. Ramos, a figure of the 1986 revolution that deposed a dictatorship, passed away on Sunday at the age of 94.
“Our family shares the Filipino people’s grief on this sad day,” Marcos’s son and current Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said in a statement. “We did not only lose a good leader but also a member of the family.”
Born on March 18, 1928, Ramos was a career military official before he got into politics. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The former president served as army chief and defense secretary of the post-revolution administration under democracy icon Corazon Aquino. He later succeeded her as the 12th president of the republic, from 1992 to 1998.
Ramos left behind a mixed legacy. To his supporters, he is a hero of the revolution who went on to urge the Marcos family to publicly apologize for their misdeeds. As president, he was credited with helping modernize the economy and forging a peace agreement with rebel forces in the southern Philippines.
In a 2017 interview with Maria Ressa, founder of the news site Rappler and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ramos explained why he turned against Marcos — despite a long history that involved the would-be dictator hiding in his family sanctuary during World War II.
“You must understand that even with that close relationship and association during the war… why did I go against this guy?” he said. “It’s because of what is in the Constitution… You obey the orders of your superior, your commanding officer, if they are legal orders. But when he started to stray during the martial law years… that went against my values.”
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