FIDEL VALDEZ RAMOS

(President of the Philippines from 1992-1998)

• Also known as Eddie Ramos

• Born on March 18, 1928
• Military leader and politician
• Most effective president in
nation’s history
• Educational Attainment:
- U.S. Military Academy
at WestPoint, NY
- University of Illinois, US
Major Legislation
Signed
 BILLS PASSED INTO LAW
• Republic Act No. 7653 - The New Central Bank
Act .
• Republic Act No. 7638 - Charter of the
Department of Energy.
• Republic Act No. 7648 - Electric Power Crisis
Act.
• Republic Act No. 7832 - Anti-electricity and
Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage
Act of 1994.
• Republic Act No. 7881 – Amended certain
provisions of RA 6657 and exempted fishponds
and prawns from the coverage of CARP.
• Republic Act No. 7905 – Strengthened the
implementation of the CARP.
BILLS PASSED INTO LAW
• Republic Act No. 8179 - An act further
liberalizing foreign investments, amending for
the purpose Republic Act No. 7042, and for
other purposes.
• Republic Act No. 8293 - The Intellectual
Property Code of the Philippines (Philippine
copyright law).
• Republic Act No. 8435 – (Agriculture and
Fisheries Modernization Act AFMA) Plugged
the legal loopholes in land use conversion.
• Republic Act No. 8532 – (Agrarian Reform
Fund Bill) Provided an additional Php50 billion
for CARP and extended its implementation for
another 10 years.
Contributions
 ECONOMY
Overview

• The taxation system was reformed, and

external debt was brought to more
manageable labels by debt restructuring
and sensible fiscal management.
– Includes a forced increase on VAT (E-VAT
law) from 4% to 10% mandated by World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
• By 1996, GNP was growing at a rate of
7.2%and GDP at 5.2%.
• The annual inflation rate had dropped to
5.9% from 9.1% in 1995.
 ECONOMY
Overview

• By the late 1990s, gained favorable

comparisons with other Asian counties
(Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and
Malaysia)
• Implemented economic reforms
intended to open up the once-closed
national economy, encourage private
enterprise, invite more foreign and
domestic investment, and reduce
corruption.
 ECONOMY
Overview
• Led 4th Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit
in the Philippines on November 1996.
• Generated about $20 billion worth of
foreign investment to the Philippines.
• Philippines enjoyed economic growth
and stability.
- Philippines stock exchange in the
mid-1990s was one of the best in the
world
-Tiger Cub Economy in Asia
 PHILIPPINES 2000
• The plan envisioned the Philippines
achieving newly industrialized county
status by year 2020

• Philippines 2000 Five-Point Program:

Peace and Stability
Economic Growth and Sustainable
Development
Energy and Power Generation
Environmental Protection
Streamlined Bureaucracy
 PHILIPPINES 2000
• He implemented economic reforms
intended to open-up the once-closed
national economy, encourage private
enterprise, invite more foreign and
domestic investment, and reduce
corruption.
 POWER CRISIS
• Department of Energy
• Issued licenses to independent power
producers (IPP) to provide additional
power plants within 24 months.
• Issued supply contracts that guaranteed
the government would buy whatever
IPPs produced under the contact.
 BUILD-OPERATE-
TRANSFER
• The Philippines became a pioneer in the
use of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)
schemes to spur development, where,
with limited government financial
capability to do such, private investors
are invited to build certain government
projects
• i.e. tollways, power plants, railways, etc.
• operate them for a set period of time,
and then transfer ownership to the
government.
BUILD-OPERATE-
TRANSFER
PEACE WITH SEPARATISTS
• Made peace with the
rebel panels.
• He was instrumental in
the signing of the final
peace agreement
between the government
and the Moro National
Liberation
Front (MNLF) led
by Nur Misuari in 1996.
PEACE WITH SEPARATISTS
• He also ordered the resumption of peace
negotiations with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) led by Salamat
Hashim and the Communist Party of the
Philippines-National Democratic Front,
which operates the New People's Army,
led by Jose Maria Sison.
• Membership in the once-
outlawed Communist Party of the
Philippines became legal.
 AGRARIAN REFORM
• Signed R.A. No. 8532 to amend the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
(CARL) which further strengthened the
CARP by extending the program to
another ten years.
 FOREIGN POLICY
• Four core priorities:
1. Enhancement of National Security
2. Promotion of Economic
Diplomacy
3. Protection of Overseas Filipino
Workers and Filipino Nationals
Abroad
4. Protection of good image of the
country abroad
FOREIGN POLICY
 FOREIGN POLICY
• President Ramos boosted foreign
trade, investments and official development
assistance to the Philippines through his
state visits and summit meetings. In 1996,
the Philippines successfully hosted the
APEC Leaders' Summit, which resulted in
the Manila Action Plan for APEC 1996
(MAPA '96).
U.S. President Bill
Clinton with
Philippine President
Fidel V. Ramos and
Philippine
Senator Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo.
 MIGRANT WORKERS AND
OVERSEAS FILIPINOS ACT
• The Migrant Workers and
Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (R.A. 8042)
provided a framework for stronger
protection of Filipino workers abroad, with
the creation of the Legal Assistance Fund
and the Assistance-to-Nationals Fund, and
the designation in the DFA of a Legal
Assistant for Migrant Workers' Affairs, with
the rank of Undersecretary of Foreign
Affairs.
 MIGRANT WORKERS AND
OVERSEAS FILIPINOS ACT
• Among the other significant events in foreign
affairs during the Ramos years were:
-the adoption by ASEAN in 1992, upon
Philippine initiative, of the Declaration on
the Conduct of Parties in the South China
Sea aimed at confidence-building and
avoidance of conflict among claimant states
- the establishment of the Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, and Philippines (BIMP)-East Asia
Growth area in 1994
- the establishment of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) in 1994 as the only multilateral
security dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region
conducted at the government level
 WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION
• The Philippines became a member of
the World Trade Organization which is an
organization that intends to supervise
and liberalize international trade.

President Fidel V.
Ramos troops the
honor guards at the
Pentagon with Secreta
ry of Defense
William
Cohen during a State
visit in 1998.
 WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION
• The organization deals with regulation of
trade between participating countries; it
provides a framework for negotiating and
formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute
resolution process aimed at enforcing
participants' adherence to WTO
agreements which are signed by
representatives of member governments
and ratified by their parliaments.
Controversies
 CLARK CENTENNIAL
EXPO SCANDAL
• Charges of alleged massive corruption or
misuse of funds blemished the resulting
programs and various projects, one of
which was the Centennial Expo and
Amphitheater at the former Clark Air Base
in Angeles City, Pampanga, supposedly
Ramos' pet project. The commemorative
projects, particularly those undertaken at
the former Clark Air Base, were hounded
by illegal electioneering and corruption
controversies even years after the
Centennial celebrations.
 CLARK CENTENNIAL
EXPO SCANDAL
• A special report by the Philippine Center
for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) showed
how the projects relating to the Expo site
not only revealed the extravagance and
inefficiency of the administration, but also
served as convenient vehicle to effect
election fund-raising for the LAKAS
political party of Ramos at the expense of
the tax-paying Filipinos and in violation of
the Election Code.
 CLARK CENTENNIAL
EXPO SCANDAL
• The Centennial Expo Pilipino project, intended to
be the centerpiece for the celebrations for the
100th anniversary of the country's independence
from Spain, also earned extensive criticisms for
being an expensive white elephant project that
disadvantaged the government at the cost of P9
billion, or 1.7 percent of the country's 1998
national budget.[13] Six ranking Ramos cabinet
members and officials, headed by Chairman
Salvador Laurel (former Vice-President) of the
Centennial Commission were cleared by the
Ombudsman and Sandigan Bayan (People's
Court). Ramos appeared before a Congressional
Committee in October 1998 to help exonerate said
officials of any wrongdoing.
 PEA-AMARI SCANDAL
• President Fidel Ramos was accused of
corruption in the PEA-Amari deal. The
controversial deal involved the acquisition
of 158 hectares of reclaimed land on
Manila Bay that was to be converted into
so-called Freedom Islands. The deal was
forged in April 1995 as part of the Ramos
administration's Manila Bay Master
Development Plan (MBMDP).
 PEA-AMARI SCANDAL
• The PEA-Amari deal – in addition to other
projects in Manila Bay - displaced over 3,000
fishing and coastal families in Manila Bay just to
give way to what fisherfolk activists from
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng
Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) described as "an immoral,
illegal and grossly unconstitutional state venture".
Ramos denied accusations that the PEA-Amari
deal was clinched to benefit members of the ruling
Lakas-NUCD as alleged by opposition groups.
However, ex- solicitor general Franciso Chavez
filed a petition to nullify the PEA-Amari deal
because the government stood to lose billions of
pesos in the sale of reclaimed lands to Amari.
 PEA-AMARI SCANDAL
• On April 25, 1995, PEA entered into a
joint venture with Amari to develop
Freedom Islands and on June 8 of the same
year, Ramos okayed deal. On November
29, 1996, then-Senate President Ernesto
Maceda delivered a privilege speech
assailing the deal as the "grandmother of all
scams"
 UNSOUND ECONOMIC
POLICIES
• Leftist groups have also criticised Ramos'
economic reforms such as privatization,
deregulation and trade liberalization, claiming that
the economic growth posted during his presidency
was "artificial." They blamed him for the slowdown
of the Philippine economy during the 1997 East
Asian financial crisis. The sale of Petron to
Aramco is specifically criticized as resulting to the
loss of the government's effective leverage on
domestic oil prices. Along with the deregulation of
the entire oil industry, Petron's privatization is
blamed for the continuing surge in oil prices that
has particularly proved to be deleterious to the
masses amidst the obtaining high petroleum costs
in the global market.
 UNSOUND ECONOMIC
POLICIES
• In 1998, Ramos hesitantly admitted that,
contrary to what his government earlier
claimed, the economic fundamentals of the
country may actually be unsound. His
admission came following the discovery of a
secret memorandum issued by the National
Economic Development Authority director-
general during the president to tell the Filipinos
the truth about the state of the economy and
that they ought to prepare for worse.
According to former University of the
Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo,
Ramos "has done nothing to reverse or slow
down the implementation" of the harmful IMF-
imposed structural reforms.
 WIKILEAKS EXPOSÉ
• On August 30, 2011, Wikileaks exposed reports sent by
the United States Embassy in Manila that contain detail
that the Libyan government under Muammar Gaddafi
allegedly contributed USD 20,000 to the presidential
campaign of Ramos in 1992.[16] The report said it was
former House Speaker Jose de Venecia who brought
Ramos to Gaddafi.[17] Reports said that Ramos and De
Venecia "had been engaged in shady dealings in both
Libya and Iraq involving construction contracts for his
firm, and had tried to "repay" his Libyan benefactors by
acting as their front man and errand boy." The same
report added that there was a lot of speculation when
Ramos and De Venecia left for a secret trip abroad in
middle of the 1992 campaign, and implied that this
connection with the Libyan government was one of the
objectives.
 WIKILEAKS EXPOSÉ
• Section 95 of the Philippines' Omnibus Election Code
enumerates prohibited sources of political contributions
and one of them is " Foreigners and foreign
corporations." In addition, "It shall be unlawful for any
person to solicit or receive any contribution from any of
the persons or entities enumerated herein," the Code
said. Sec. 81 of the Code also states,"It shall be unlawful
for any foreigner, whether judicial or natural person, to
aid any candidate or political party, directly or
indirectly, or take part in or influence in any manner
any election, or to contribute or make any expenditure
in connection with any election campaign or partisan
political activity." The Wikileaks exposé makes Ramos
administratively and criminally liable under the law. If
charged and convicted for this offense, he can be fined
and imprisoned.
 MIDTERM ELECTIONS
• Legislative elections and local elections were
held in the Philippines on May 8, 1995 -
halfway through President Ramos' six-year
term. Filipinos protected the ballot boxes with
their lives and campaigned against traditional
politicians who used bribery, flying voters,
violence, election rigging, stealing of ballot
boxes etc. The Philippine National Police
(PNP) had listed five dead and listed more
than 200 hotspots before the election and
during the election day listed 300 hotspots.
Ramos' administration-coalition won 9 senate
seats and a majority of the seats in the house.
 References

• Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.). Fidel V. Ramos.

Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/FidelRamos