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Fidel Ramos champion of national development: POPCOM

By Wilnard Bacelonia

August 1, 2022, 4:40 pm

<p><strong>SUPPORTER.</strong> Former President Fidel V. Ramos (left) meets officials after his State of the Population speech in celebration of Population and Development Week at the Heroes’ Hall of Malacañang Palace on Nov. 23, 1992. The Commission on Population and Development said Ramos, who died Sunday (July 31, 2022), was a staunch pillar of support and a persistent advocate of family planning and population management.<em> (Photo courtesy of POPCOM)</em></p>

SUPPORTER. Former President Fidel V. Ramos (left) meets officials after his State of the Population speech in celebration of Population and Development Week at the Heroes’ Hall of Malacañang Palace on Nov. 23, 1992. The Commission on Population and Development said Ramos, who died Sunday (July 31, 2022), was a staunch pillar of support and a persistent advocate of family planning and population management. (Photo courtesy of POPCOM)

MANILA – Former president Fidel V. Ramos will always be remembered by the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) as a staunch pillar of support and a persistent advocate of family planning and population management throughout his administration.

“The former president’s development policy firmly put people at the center of development. He was, during his presidency up to the last years of his active life, a firm believer of the benefits of family planning,” Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III, POPCOM Executive Director, said in a statement on Monday.

In a keynote speech at the first National Family Planning Conference in November 2016, Perez recalled that FVR, as Ramos was fondly called, enjoined everyone, particularly government leaders, to support and provide the necessary political will in implementing the family planning program, including Republic Act 10354, or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.

The law “recognizes and guarantees the human rights of all persons including their right to equality and nondiscrimination of these rights, the right to sustainable human development, the right to health which includes reproductive health, the right to education and information, and the right to choose and make decisions for themselves in accordance with their religious convictions, ethics, cultural beliefs, and the demands of responsible parenthood.”

“Personally, I saw him as truly devoted and focused on development work, perhaps more than any of our presidents. He was also a contributor not just to national development, but also the peace process. As a true development worker, he wanted to see the best for the Philippines,” Perez added.

Perez said FVR was “truly worthy of the Filipinos’ recognition and honor.”

Ramos died on Sunday at the age of 94. His family has yet to announce details of the wake. (PNA)



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