Protesters jeer Ramos

Protesters jeer Ramos

BAGUIO, Philippines (Reuter): Demonstrators jeered Philippine President Fidel Ramos yesterday over the peso's de facto devaluation and threw back a bunch of flowers he handed out as a peace offering.

About 30 protesters began heckling Ramos when he stepped out of his car to address 2,000 people at a convention hall in this northern Philippine mountain resort.

The president handed a girl protester a flower garland but she hurled the flowers back at him as he walked away, hitting him on the back, witnesses said.

The peso has dropped by more than six percent since the central bank effectively devalued it on July 11 after speculative attacks on the currency. Yesterday the peso was trading at approximately 28.40 pesos to the dollar.