LOS ANGELES – Former President of the Philippines Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) delighted the audience with his half-hour speech directed to the young and the young at heart, who came to the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall on Memorial Day weekend.
He was met at the doorsteps of the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall by Executive Director Dr. Jenny Batongmalaque and the Board of Directors of the Filipino Veterans Foundation (FVF), who received his request to meet and greet with veterans and the community supporting them, two weeks prior.
He was given a salute by the Honor Guards of Carson High School, and entertained by the young singers, Nicolle Villalon and Michaela Marquez, introduced by Thelma Sugay. The Veterans of WWII and young veterans were anxiously waiting to shake his hand and give him a warm welcome.
Christine Love sang a stirring rendition of the National Anthems, followed by an Invocation given by Eddie Duque. Councilman Victor Manalo, former Mayor of Artesia, and Mayor Tony Cartagena of Walnut, both gave a warm welcome to the former Philippine president.
Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim gave the introduction to President Ramos, who “was a graduate of West Point , a Veteran of three American wars, namely, WWII, Korean and Vietnam War , and became the Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army after the fall of dictatorship, and eventually the Commander in Chief of the Republic of the Philippines for six years (1992 -1998)” and whom he considers as the best President the Philippines ever had, as a soldier, a Veteran and a great Statesman, during and long after his term of duty.
President Ramos was given a standing ovation. He gave the audience a 30-minute inspirational, engaging and thought-provoking speech, which covered a wide range of topics. First, his pet project, RPDEV (Ramos for Peace and Development) has three words of action: caring, sharing, and daring.
Filipinos, by nature, are compassionate and caring and share values. Daring means giving more than you take, sacrificing for the common good.
“Today, daring means engaging into the defense agreement, recently signed by President Barack Obama and President Aquino a month ago. It translates to inter-cooperability of equipment, leadership, units, providing health care, protecting the environment and bringing us to par in modernizing the nation.”
“Mabuhay in Pilipino comes from ‘may buhay,’ meaning, there is life, which equates to long life, continued success, Christmas, freedom, democracy. Remember these three words: U.S.T. – for unity of purpose, solidarity of values, and teamwork.”
“ Live to be a 100 years. Do you know the secret to be 100? First you have to be 99 years old,” the president quipped. This drew a laughter from the audience.
“The 20th Century was about wars, and it’s over. The 21st Century is about cooperation and fighting the real enemy: hunger, poverty, disasters. We all share this planet and we all need to protect our planet.”
“I have accepted to be the Chairman of the Honorary Board of two Veterans organizations. The first one is led by Retired Gen. Renato de Villa, with 300,000 membership. It is called the Filipino World War Two Veterans or Filvets foundation. The second is based here in the US. I am honored to be the Chairman of the Honorary Advisory Board of the Filipino Veterans Foundation in Los Angeles. We will address not only the veterans of WWII, but veterans of all wars, the newly-arrived veterans of Iraq .
“The Filipinos around the world, 11 million in 175 countries are known to be reliable, work efficiently and are appreciated by the family of nations. We come from a third-world country and hope to elevate ourselves as a first-world country because of who we are — a freedom loving country.”
With that, he ended his speech and everyone gave him a standing ovation.
Evelyn Andamo called the presidents, leaders of associations and the veterans to a finale photo with the former President. Then he was led by Dr. Jenny to the Bayani Center of the Filipino Veterans Foundation at the ground floor, to spend 30 minutes with the veterans and the Board of Directors of the FVF.
The veterans raised their main difficulties of getting their old-age pension benefits of PVAO forwarded to them here in the US because it stops, unless they have to prove themselves they are still around every year.
FVR has asked ConGen Herrera-Lim to expedite the process of certifying their survivorship. He also addressed the issue of the veterans – not having received their benefits due them because it has been embroiled in the pork-barrel scandal which is still being investigated. With this, he pounded the table showing his frustration for the veterans.
Dr. Jenny mentioned about the recent investigation on the Veterans Administration’ s inability to attend to the needs of the veterans and it has only been suggested last week by President Obama — that if the VA cannot meet their healthcare needs then they have to seek help from the community.
“For this timely concern, the Filipino Veterans Foundation is ready, able and willing to serve Veterans of all wars at the Patriotic Hall, for its Board is composed of active practicing physicians, proprietor of an Adult Care Center, and community leaders in education, welfare and human services.”
Present were: Dr. Arnel Joaquin, Chairman of the Board, Dr. Manuel Baculi, Dr. Sal Abiera, Evelyn Andamo, Eddie Duque, Benito Miranda, and Bing de la Vega. Absent were Dr. Antonio Abiog, Dr. Rey Abejuela and Marcy Ines.
Finally, FVR joined the reception of the community at the Purple Heart Inn. He was greeted warmly by Ret. Col. And Mrs. Ralph Ramirez and Dr. and Mrs. Fred Martin, strong supporters of FVF. Jay Wurtz (author of Pacific Wars )presented him with a copy of his book.
There was an exchange of gifts, 5 books from the President to the library of FVF and the E.R.Batongmalaque Foundation, with 2 DVDs on the Philippines. Dr. Jenny gave him a token of appreciation with a set of 4 tall Americana glasses, to remind him of the Filipino-Americans when he sips buko juice on a hot summer day. More photo ops, fellowships and a feeling of one-ness were emceed by Benito Miranda.
FVR signed pictures taken 12 years ago in Carson, at the 60th Anniversary of USAFFE sponsored by the Erasto R. Batongmalaque Foundation, and was reminded that it was he who planted the seed to build the Bayani Center in America for our legacy to be handed down to future generations.
The day set the tone of the new directions coming from FVR, Chairman of the Honorary Advisory Board of the Filipino Veterans Foundation at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles on May 25.
(Dr. Jenny Batongmalaque/Filipino Veterans Foundation)
