President Ramos travels and toils

President Ramos travels and toils

By Uday Khandeparkar

MANILA (Reuter): It is Manila's mellowest hour. At 5 a.m. the
streets are deserted except for a few cruising cab drivers and
members of President Fidel Ramos' cabinet.

The ministers are heading for yet another out-of-town cabinet
meeting.

This time the state machinery is moving to the Cordilleras,
the mountain province in the northern island of Luzon.

It is Ramos' way of taking the government to the people. Since
he became president in 1992, he has held dozens of such meetings
outside the capital, Manila.

The regional cabinet meetings, at which reporters are
reluctant guests because it means a back-breaking day of
traveling to remote places and attending scores of public
functions, have built Ramos' image as the indefatigable
president.

"To work with the president, you have to be physically fit,"
says Press Secretary Hector Villenueva.

While most Manilans are still in bed, the 69-year-old
president and his ministers clamber into helicopters and head for
Bokod in Benguet province, a fertile valley isolated from the
rest of the country since a 1990 earthquake destroyed the only
bridge.

Ninety minutes later, the helicopters raise a dust storm as
they land in Bokod which has waken up early to see the guests.

As the villagers crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the
government, Ramos and his officials stride to a make-shift stage
where a new bridge is to be inaugurated.

"This is not just a bridge. It is a bridge to your future,"
says Ramos to the cheering crowd.

When Ramos became president, he inherited an economy run to
the ground by 20 years of misrule by dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Ramos turned the economy around, with gross national product
growing by 6.94 percent last year.

But the former general, who won the presidential nomination
from predecessor Cory Aquino for defending her during a series of
coups, takes as much pride in his social reform program.

The program includes redistribution of land to the poorest and
ensuring the benefits of growth filter down.

Constitution

Despite his achievements, Ramos has been severely criticized
for attempts by his aides to amend the constitution so he can run
for a second term next year.

The Philippines' new constitution, written after Marcos was
toppled, restricts a president to a single six-year term.

After efforts early this year to amend the constitution were
stymied by a court ruling, senior members of the ruling Lakas
party as well as Ramos' cabinet began angling for the job.

The seven aspirants, who include the country's defense and
finance secretaries, are all hoping they will win Ramos'
endorsement for the presidency.

This has meant that journalists and politicians hang on to
every word Ramos says to seek indication of whom he might anoint.

"Remember how to spell De Villa," Ramos tells his audience in
Bokod.

It sounds like a definite pitch for defense secretary Renato
de Villa. The trouble is Ramos earlier said much the same about
finance secretary Roberto de Ocampo and house speaker Jose de
Venecia.

Asked if this is indication De Villa could be the chosen one,
one minister said: "This is an indication of Ramos' sense of
humor."

De Villa's popularity rating is low and his slowness in
decision-making has earned him the nickname of "Mr Wait a
Minute".

So who is the candidate of Ramos' choice?

The choice is Ramos himself because that is what the people
are clamoring for, says another minister.

Ramos says this is his one and only term and that on June 30,
1998, a new president will be in Malacanang palace.

The speculation over Ramos' future plans persist but meanwhile
he drives everyone in a grueling grind. He himself leads the
pack, working seven days a week, 365 days of the year.

Several events later, the government heads for the helicopters
but by then the sun has gone down and flying out of the fog-bound
Cordillera mountains is dangerous.

So they march into a bus for a seven-hour drive back to
Manila. Now it is well past midnight and again the president's
men are in the company of cruising cab drivers, home-bound
bartenders and stray dogs strutting the streets without fear.

Manila has long since gone to bed.