The men and women of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) mourn the passing of former President Fidel V. Ramos (PFVR). We extend our deepest condolences and prayers to his family.
PFVR was instrumental in laying the foundations of the comprehensive Philippine peace process. Under his administration, the government launched a nationwide consultation process in order to develop a strategy to engage various rebel groups in the country.
The Ramos Administration created the National Unification Commission (NUC) which was primarily tasked to craft “a viable general amnesty program and process that will lead to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace.”
The recommendations gathered from the NUC-led consultations served as inputs in crafting the Six Paths to Peace which would eventually become the framework of the Philippine peace process.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), which would later be renamed as the OPAPRU, was created in 1993 to implement the recommendations made by the NUC.
It was during the term of FVR that government peace negotiating panels with the communist insurgents, military rebels and the Moro groups were established. These peace panels would be crucial in moving forward the peace talks with the rebel organizations.
Among the key milestones of the peace process under the Ramos administration was the signing of the Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996, which finally put an end to decades of armed conflict.
Former President Fidel V Ramos was a statesman, development planner and visionary rolled into one. Under his leadership, the Philippines was able to resolve a debilitating power crisis and shed its image as the “sick old man” of Asia to become one of the region’s emerging “Tiger” economies.
But the former president will be remembered, first and foremost, for his major contributions to the Philippine peace process, which succeeding administrations have worked hard to build on and sustain over the years.
The Philippines is now moving closer to realizing its peoples’ collective vision of achieving a just and lasting peace because of the man we will always lovingly refer to as FVR. May you find eternal peace in the hands of our Lord, Sir.
You will be missed and will always be remembered by the Filipino nation for everything that you have done for our country.###
