Remembering Fidel V. Ramos' Economic Legacy

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Today is the 13th death anniversary of the late Maria Corazon S. Cojuangco-Aquino. Fidel V. Ramos at the Makati Medical Center on July 31, 2022. Ramos' health was already failing. Having been born in the 1980s means that I would've passed through childhood with the late Mrs. Aquino and the late Ramos. I was too young to understand back then. There was the study of Philippine history for more than six years under the old curriculum. The civics and culture subject studied the rights and duties of citizenship, and Filipino culture. In Tagalog, it was called sibika at kultura and the subject was taught in Tagalog for the first three years of my life. Mrs. Aquino stepped down and Ramos became the president shortly after. 

Ramos' legacy in the eyes of Singapore's great leader, the late Lee Kuan Yew

I was reading through Lee Kuan Yew's masterpiece From Third World to First. There were also lessons about what Filipinos can learn. Sadly, some people read from it only to discredit incumbent Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. Reading the book from a real expert (instead of hearsay from social media gossipers) gave me more insights. I'm amazed that social media gossipers should use the book but only in portions. As said, it's cherry-picking and history is always based on facts and not gossip. It was fascinating to read about Lee Kuan Yew's encounter with the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., Mrs. Aquino, the late Cesar Virata (who he called no political leader), and Ramos. Ramos was a man who wanted to reform the constitution. However, that was met with so much opposition built on ignorance and fear. These words by Lee Kuan Yew should ring a bell on Pages 304-305:
Mrs. Aquino's successor, Fidel Ramos, whom she had backed, was more practical and established greater stability. In November 1992, I visited him. In a speech to the 18th Business conference, I said, "I do not believe democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy." In private, President Ramos said he agreed with me that British parliamentary-type constitutions worked better because the majority party in the legislature was also the government. Publicy, Ramos had to differ.

He knew well the difficulties of trying to govern with strict American-style separation of powers. The senate had already defeated Mrs. Aquino's proposal to retain the American bases. The Philippines had a rambunctious press but it did not check corruption. Something had gone seriously wrong. Millions of Filipino men and women had to leave their country for jobs abroad beneath their level of education. Filipino professionals whom we recruited to work in Singapore are as good as our own. Indeed, their architects, artists, and musicians are more artistic and creative than ours. Hundreds of thousands of them have left for Hawaii and for American mainland. It is a problem the solution to which has not been made easier by the workings of a Philippine version of an American constitution.

The next works are all about the quote which is often used to discredit the Marcoses. Personally, I still believe in what Lee Kuan Yew said about the Marcoses. I still think about the stories I heard about how the Marcos Years weren't the golden years after all. Though, I guess Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Marcos Jr. out of courtesy. I think it was no different when Lee Hsien Loong offered his condolences when Aquino III died from complications of renal failure secondary to diabetes. Both are acts of diplomatic relations between nations. Marcos Jr. won the presidency, congratulations. Aquino III died from complications of renal failure secondary to diabetes, condolences. 

A side of Ramos that I never saw during the 1990s and for some time

I could remember growing up in the 1990s. Back then, there was hardly any Internet, and owning a PC was a luxury. In fact, one time I said I was richer than someone because we had a PC. The Internet was still the dial-up modem. I was even a victim of a fake Internet promo that demanded I pay for the fee. If it was limited then if my time was up--shouldn't it be just cut? Having no Internet back then meant that research and homework were hard to get. More often than not, it was easy to get into a fight whenever my PC or printer broke. I really hated using that paper-eating monster called the typewriter. I guess a lack of Internet connection and not knowing how to use search engines was a problem. Back then, I even remembered I used Ask Jeeves (a search engine) as a source. In college, I remember a professor of mine at the University of San Carlos (USC) said that Google isn't a proper source. Google should always be regarded as what it is--a search engine. 

Talks and gossip about Ramos becoming a dictator were already on. It was in 1996 and I feared martial law may return. What I didn't know (back then) is that a president may declare martial law under the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines which was martial law under Article VII. This martial law can't be declared at any time either. A definition of martial law is when the military takes over when normal peacekeepers can't. A time of invasion such as the Marawi Siege was a good time to declare martial law. Military checkpoints were there, especially when the Maute Family had practically caused a lot of trouble. I went to Surigao City last 2017. I checked in at the  Tavern Hotel. I would say that I had a sense of security moving in between Butuan and Surigao. It was necessary to declare martial law because the Maute terrorists and their associates may move into the borders any time soon. 

The other talk of him becoming a dictator was talk of charter change. The charter change called "cha-cha" is often misrepresented. I remembered an editorial during the Aquino III administration (from a tabloid written in Cebuano) of former Philippine president (and congresswoman) Gloria M. Macapagal-Arroyo dancing the cha-cha with the lawmakers. During Ramos' time, I feared Ramos might become a tyrant any time soon. I remembered panicking and pinching somebody's ear out of anger when I asked about updates on Ramos. I even remembered getting into hot water with my civics teacher because I vandalized my textbook by putting an X on Ramos' face. Charter change (better termed as constitutional reform) is often confused with term extension, removal of term limits to ruling for life, and the misconceptions can go on. What's often ignored is that a parliamentary system has no term limits in the sense of fixed term limits. Meanwhile, a person's term in the parliament can be limited by disqualification from the parliament. 

It was 1997 and Ramos' term was about to end. He had spoken about the need to reform the constitution. It only created a backlash. In my case, I was afraid that he could become a tyrant. What I never realized was that some countries were under a long benevolent rule. I was told that the six years only limit for the president was to prevent any more power abuse. Yet, the late Saloth Sar (more infamously known as Pol Pot) ruled Cambodia for five years but it was a reign of terror worse than what the Philippines experienced. Idi Amin ruled Uganda for eight years and it was also a reign of terror. Meanwhile, Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore for 31 years and his son, Lee Hsien Loong, ruled Singapore from 2004 up to the present. It means Lee Hsien Loong ruled Singapore while the Philippines changed presidents a lot. Right now, I even want to think Ramos had a lot of programs that made it six years wasn't enough. Aquino III had several infrastructure projects (such as the Second Mactan Airport and the CCLEX in Cebu City) that were left unfinished because of the six-year limit.

The Global Leadership Foundation describes this of Ramos during his six-year reign: 
Public Office 
Fidel Ramos was President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. Under his leadership the Philippines experienced a period of political stability and rapid economic growth and expansion.

Prior to his election as president, Fidel Ramos served as Secretary of National Defence (1988-1991) and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (1986-1988) with the rank of General.

As President, Fidel Ramos’s policies and programmes to foster national reconciliation and unity led to major peace agreements with Muslim separatists, communist insurgents and military rebels, which renewed investor confidence in the Philippine economy. Ramos pushed for the deregulation of key industries and the liberalization of the economy. He encouraged the privatization of public entities, to include the modernization of public infrastructure through the expanded Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law. During the years 1993-1997, the Philippine economy recovered dramatically. Gross National Product averaged 5 percent annually, the total inflow of foreign exchange into the country outpaced that of the combined periods of rule of both Presidents Marcos and Aquino, and the average income of the Filipino family grew more during Ramos’ administration than in the preceding two decades. This allowed Fidel Ramos’ government to implement a comprehensive Social Reform Agenda (SRA) that addressed long-standing problems regarding poverty, health, education and skills training, housing, environmental protection, children and the youth, the elderly and the handicapped, jobs and livelihood, agrarian reform and access to equal opportunity.

The peace agreement which Ramos brokered with military rebels and the MNLF southern secessionists won for him (together with Chairman Nur Misuari) and the Philippines the coveted 1997 UNESCO Peace Prize – the first for Asians. His public service spanned a total period of 51 years.

However, six years isn't enough to really make a difference. One can say that the Philippines became a rising tiger under Aquino III's administration. Former Philippine Rodrigo R. Duterte may have made some bad decisions too. However, Duterte was right to sign the Public Services Act of 2022. Duterte critic Andrew James Masigan did mention it was better late than never. What I appreciate about Masigan is the way he criticized Duterte's wrong decisions--it was focused on improving the economy than derailing the person. Masigan wrote a very professional critique on some of Duterte's policies. Masigan was a long proponent of opening up of the economy to develop the economy. I wrote about how opening the Philippines to 100% shares ownership will be beneficial to developing the national industry (read here). If there was one reason why Aquino III brought some stability (and please, lower gasoline prices aren't one of them)--Global Risks Insights talks about foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow during that term. Aquino III did work on easing certain sectors from the negative list. Duterte also did well to sign the Public Services Act of 2022. However, I felt that the Public Services Act should've been made urgent last 2016 before starting the Build Build Build program. That's why I agree with Masigan as an economist even if he and I have different political spectrums.

Just reading what the Global Leadership Foundation said made me regret why I even feared Ramos back then. Again, I was only 11 years old back then, and not doing well in school. Ramos deserved the UNESCO Peace Prize. I think about how his economic policies by amending the Foreign Investment Act of 1991 managed to help the Philippines survive the crisis. Yet, there was a time, in high school (when I no longer feared Ramos) when I mentioned him in my Asian history essay. Too bad that I'll have to ask my high school to give me my test paper from the archives. I lost a lot of my academic papers in high school because my first PC is now as good as gone. My second PC is also good as gone. Thankfully, the knowledge learned hasn't been gone just yet. Ramos had good economic policies that kept the Philippines afloat. 

Ramos did make a few mistakes too. Ramos, back then, almost cut ties with Singapore after the execution of Flor Contemplacion. Fortunately, Ramos decided to restore ties with Singapore. This caused people to get angered especially with the event regarding Contemplacion's death. It was in 1995 when it happened--the same year when The Flor Contemplacion Story hit the theaters. The strain was fortunately resolved between the two countries. However, some people (such as "think tanks" like Migrante International) still stuck with the same story that Contemplacion was "innocent" even when evidence said otherwise. It was a wise decision of Ramos to make amends with Singapore. Singapore should remain an important business partner for the Philippines. 

Why I also support Ramos' desire for the Philippines to go parliamentary

Why did Ramos (and neither did any of his successors) turn the Philippines into another Singapore? The difference lies in the form of governance. As mentioned earlier, Lee Kuan Yew didn't transform Singapore from a third-world country to a first-world country in just one term. Aquino III also had infrastructure projects that weren't started because of his fixed term. I believe Aquino III should've supported the shift to parliamentary. Just imagine it if Ramos had more than one term. Just imagine it if Ramos himself were prime minister instead of president. Just imagine it if Mrs. Aquino remained as a national symbol of unity for Filipinos while Ramos led the country in 1986 up to a certain period in time. Ramos would have had more time not just to make good projects but to also implement them. 

The parliamentary government would also have an opposition that would question the government and hold it accountable. Having a healthy opposition with an official role works better in preventing tyrants from rising than a one-term only for presidents. As mentioned earlier, Idi Amin and Pol Pot barely ruled for a decade but those guys were brutal tyrants. Mao Zedong was a tyrant not because he ruled China long. Instead, Mao was an uncontested dictator. Lee Kuan Yew ruled for 31 years having to face a formal opposition, had to do well if he expected to serve another term, and parliamentary systems have better checks and balances. That's why I want to have a parliamentary Philippines (read here). It wouldn't be magic but it will provide the right tools to help create better governance. 

If we were a parliamentary right now, we would have former Philippine Vice President, Atty. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo wouldn't be heading an NGO called Angat Buhay--something she created during her term as the vice president. Instead, Mrs. Robredo would've already marched in the Philippine Parliament with her fellow Liberal Party of the Philippines members. Mrs. Robredo would serve as the Leader of the Opposition and have a shadow cabinet. Marcos Jr. and his cabinet are directly faced with Mrs. Robredo's shadow cabinet. Any policies Marcos Jr.'s government wants to make must be questioned directly by Mrs. Robredo and her shadow cabinet. Mrs. Robredo and her team represent the minority bloc. Mrs. Robredo will have her own set of appointees that will reflect Marcos Jr.'s appointees. Every minister of a certain department will have a shadow minister of a certain department. 

Right now, I want to see Ramos' vision realized. It must not die with him. Instead, I'm among those who will now say that we need to reform an already outdated constitution. We need to have a parliamentary system for better economic policies as a result of better transparency. 

References

Books 

"From Third World to First--The Singapore Story: 1965-2000) by Lee Kuan Yew
Harpers Collins Publishers 

Websites

"3. Parliamentary qualifications and disqualifications"


"Fidel Valdez Ramos, President, Republic of the Philippines 1992-98"

"Flor Contemplacion" by Valerie Chew

"Long overdue laws finally passed" by Andrew J. Masigan (April 06, 2022)

"THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES – ARTICLE VII"

"The legacy of Philippines President Benigno Aquino" by Laura Southgate (August 25, 2015)

"Why Dutertenomics weakened the economy" by Andrew J. Masigan (July 18, 2021)

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