Former president Fidel V. Ramos has died at the age of 94, state-run PTV said on Sunday.
Ramos was elected to the Presidency in 1992 and served until 1998. He succeeded President Corazon Aquino, for whom he served as chief of staff of the Armed Forces and then Defense secretary.
Six years earlier, on February 22, 1986, Ramos--then Armed Forces vice chief of staff to president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.--joined Aquino and hundreds of thousands of protesters gathering on EDSA against the Marcos regime, along with then-Defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile. Their decision to join the People Power Revolution, as the movement came to be known, was pivotal in the eventual ouster of the Marcoses from Malaca?ang three days later.
FVR, as he came to be known, was inaugurated President on June 30, 1992, the first chief executive to be inaugurated on that date as provided for under the 1987 Constitution.
"We were elected at the same time in 1992 and I was a witness to how he did his best to unify the country and people. Indeed he served the country well!" former Senate President Vicente Sotto III said in a message to reporters.
Last year, on the 35th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, FVR urged Filipinos to keep its spirit alive. "The 1986 EDSA Revolution remains our nation's resplendent moment for it represents the best of Filipinos," he said.
FVR is survived by his wife, former first lady Amelita "Ming" Ramos, and four of their five daughters. Their second child, Josephine "Jo" Ramos-Samartino, passed away in 2011. -- BM, GMA News
