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.