A statesman with true Christian values

I have long respected former President Fidel Valdez Ramos, who assumed the presidency after President Corazon Aquino who ran a revolutionary government when our country was deep in the throes of a dictatorship and the Filipino people chased Ferdinand Marcos out of Malacanang. The first and only lady president at the time, Mrs. Aquino anointed Ramos, her defense secretary, as her successor after her six-year term ended in 1992, and although he took over the reins of the government with the slimmest margin of votes, he did so with dignity and the spirit of instilling true change in the country.

Former President Ramos took over a country that had been through its share of downs and was still slowly trying to get back on track. Through his hard work, he continued to bring the economy back to life and very conscientiously looked after foreign affairs. We saw real change while he was in office and when his term was over he never sought a lower position in politics as do most of his other colleagues who have once held the highest position in the land.

His preferred choice to succeed him was House Speaker Jose de Venecia but that wish did not come to fruition as Joseph Estrada ran for President that year and won with the highest number of votes in our nation’s history. His vice president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, won alongside him though she was from a different political party. As most of us know, President Estrada would not complete his term as he was caught with his hand in the ‘cookie jar’ so-to-speak and was dramatically forced out leaving Arroyo the reins.

But back to a bit of recent history. These were not great years for the country. During Arroyo’s term there were more accusations, more questionable decisions, and a lot of public outcry for her removal. Finally in 2010 due to the sudden death of his mother, late President Cory Aquino, Benigno Aquino Jr. ran and won the presidency where he is until this day trying to get the country back on track and attempting to keep progress forging ahead.

It’s been long past a couple of decades and I do not wish to dwell on the past political issues, but let me point out that among those leaders who served in Malacanang after Marcos, I have the deepest respect for Fidel Ramos. I feel he truly served our country with distinction and dignity and truly made a difference in people’s lives. When he came into office we were still experiencing 12-hour blackouts. Though he may have received some criticisms for the power barges he bought, he was finally able to solve the problem and took the Philippines to higher economic planes. If our Constitution had not barred him for serving another six-year term I would have gladly joined our fellow countrymen in voting to keep him in office. I believe he would have been able to institute even more reforms had he been given more time to do so.

But it seems people have a short memory. Today, Erap is back in the limelight, having won as mayor of Manila over Alfredo Lim who, for me, has done wonders for the city. It remains to be seen if Estrada can duplicate, or even improve on Lim’s feat. Let’s wait and see.

A few weeks ago at a birthday luncheon held in a Chinese restaurant in Makati in honor of a close associate, I had the privilege of meeting General Ramos and former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, the two architects of the Edsa Revolution. It was a candid no-holds barred conversation I enjoyed being with him while he held his ubiquitous cigar but refrained from lighting it.

I reminded him that the last time we met was at the lobby of the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa. He fell in line with other patients waiting for his turn for a check-up without any pomp and pageantry. Many other patients noticed him and offered to let him go ahead which he politely declined opting instead to wait for his turn. Such was the character of this man, I thought, with no shades of power or might. A truly humble man with a good set of values. Perhaps, one may say it was his military training that taught him to be so patient and precise. Either way, if only more of our nation’s future leaders, and all of those we elected into office at last week’s elections, would have this type of sincerity and humbleness, I know we will be leaving our country in good hands for future generations.

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I came across an interesting item in the newspapers a few weeks ago. The government seems very confident that the ban imposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Philippine airlines from mounting additional flights to the US will be lifted soon after their audit team visited the Philippines earlier this month. Officials at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) say that the results of the two-man team visit were positive.

As we know, the FAA downgraded the safety of CAAP in 2008 to Category 2 from Category 1 upon recommendation of the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This meant that the Philippine civil aviation authority had failed to comply with ICAO safety standards. While under Category 2, the Philippine air carriers are only permitted to continue current operations in the US under heightened FAA surveillance. To add to the growing concern, in 2010, the European Union, following the FAA’s lead, also blacklisted the Philippines and banned our carriers from flying to Europe.

Is all of that finally set to change? I surely hope so. With an audit conducted earlier in the year that seems to have yielded positive results and hopefully all the proper changes in place it may only be a matter of time before we can finally move past the Category 2 rating and mount more international flights to the United States and other countries abroad. CAAP director general William Hotchkiss III was quoted as saying that they are confident that the results from the audit done this month will pave the way for the removal of the ban preventing local airlines from mounting additional long haul flights within the year. He predicts that the ban will, hopefully, be lifted within the year.

This could be the start of some good news for our local aviation industry that has continuously been the target of bad news for the last few years. With the continued complaints about our airports and the departure of several major overseas airline carriers, it just seemed that the aviation industry in the Philippines was in a state of decline with no end in sight. Hopefully, this is the first step in rehabilitating our aviation industry. As the cliché goes, there is nowhere to go but up.