Profile : ‘Anointed’ by Aquino, He’s Hardly a Shoo-In : Former Philippine Defense Minister Fidel Ramos has a checkered past. Let’s start with his being a Marcos cousin.

To hear Congressman Joe de Venecia tell it--and it was hard not to, since he was shouting into the microphone in the Metro Club’s crowded conference room--the world owes a debt of thanks to Fidel V. (Eddie) Ramos.

Ramos helped lead the inspiring 1986 military-backed “people power” revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and installed Corazon Aquino as president. And that led, the speaker shouted, to the collapse of corrupt dictatorships and Communist regimes around the world. Indeed, the “end of the Cold War today is directly traceable” to Ramos and Aquino.

If that view of world history is open to debate, the politics here is not. Ramos is running for president of the Philippines with Aquino’s endorsement as the designated heir and hero of 1986--as the man who, in her words, will “fearlessly pursue the vision of this democratic society that our people fought hard to re-establish.”

Three months before the May 11 elections, Aquino’s backing has propelled the shrewd, 63-year-old, cigar-chomping West Point graduate and former defense secretary into the top tier of eight candidates scrambling to succeed her. The other leading candidates are Ramon Mitra, the speaker of the House, and former Marcos crony and businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

In a swipe at his opponents, Ramos told a nationally televised campaign kickoff rally Friday that politics was “too serious to leave to political bosses and warlords.” Turning to Aquino, who sat beaming behind him, Ramos added: “With all the weight of her unique moral authority, we will not be voices alone in the wilderness.”

Not the wilderness, perhaps, but not out of the woods either. As a Protestant in a country that is 85% Catholic, Ramos is openly opposed by the powerful prelate, Cardinal Jaime Sin. In a nation where provincial party machinery is considered crucial to deliver votes, Ramos has almost none. Indeed, having lost his own party’s nomination to Mitra, he is trying to create a new party where none existed.

Aquino’s endorsement split her supporters, the government’s ruling party and key members of her own family. Despite a career as a professional soldier, Ramos remains controversial in his own military. And his running mate, Cebu Gov. Emilio Osmena, suffers from a debilitating neurological disorder that may hamper his campaigning.

Ramos says Aquino’s backing is good for “20% to 25%” of the estimated 30 million voters. If true, that would be a major boost. But Aquino’s spokesman, Tomas Gomez III, acknowledged in an interview that the president privately told Ramos to “consider me good for one million votes.”

And Gomez acknowledged that Aquino’s endorsement may be double-edged. After six years in office, her popularity has plummeted. The nation’s economy is stagnant, graft and corruption appear endemic in government and the birth rate is the highest in Asia. Land reform, which she once pledged would be the “centerpiece” of her administration, has been a sidelight at best--only a fraction of promised land has changed hands.

“They say the Aquino administration is somewhere between disappointment and disaster,” Gomez said. “Of course it is. She was prevented from doing what she wanted.”

Chief among her problems, however, was a restive military headed by Ramos. Over the last six years, rightist rebels planned or launched seven mutinies or coup attempts. The most serious, in December, 1989, left more than 100 people dead and virtually halted foreign investment. While Ramos helped put the coups down, many blame him for failing to control the military under his command.

“His legacy is the disunity of the armed forces,” said one of the country’s senior generals, who asked not to be identified. “And I believe that with all my heart. He’s so plastic, so . . . manipulative. He cannot make up his mind. I don’t trust him.”

Jose Almonte, a retired general who is a Ramos confidant, disputes that. “The factionalism in the military is a reflection of the factionalism in the country as a whole,” he said. And Ramos, he said, “refused to take over the government when there were opportunities to take over.”

Still, many can’t forget Ramos’ long loyalty to Marcos, his second cousin. As head of the Philippine Constabulary, Ramos followed orders to carry out thousands of arrests, searches and confiscations in the decade after martial law was declared in 1972. Worse still, Ramos’ national police were, by all accounts, the most abusive, least disciplined and most feared of Marcos’ military forces.

“It surprises people like us, who were victims of the Marcos martial law years, that Aquino would support a guy who was the warden and jailer of so many people,” said Rep. Bonifacio Gillego, a former intelligence officer and Marcos opponent who went underground and eventually into exile in the United States.

Ramos, a wiry, owlish-looking man with graying hair and square gold-rimmed glasses, says he fought quietly from within to reform Marcos’ military. “I would think martial law would be more harsh if I were not around,” he said in an interview. “Because I was the senior general who could say no to Mr. Marcos.”

His sister, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, a former U.N. official and head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, agrees. “The country was lucky,” she said. “He provided a human touch to martial law. When people were in trouble or needed help, they turned to him.”

Aides say Ramos is a quiet compromiser, who rarely takes others into his confidence as he broods over decisions. In Manila’s cacophonous culture of endless gossip and intrigue, he is an intensely private man. He is married and has five daughters.

Ramos grew up in Pangasinan province in central Luzon. His late father, Narciso Ramos, was a prominent National Assembly member and later foreign minister. After World War II, with his father serving as second-in-command at the newly independent nation’s embassy in Washington, Ramos won the sole Philippine slot at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. To pass his physical, his sister recalled, he pumped homemade barbells to build his chest. Still, he was in the “runt company” of cadets. He graduated in 1950.

It was the start of a 41-year career as a professional soldier. Trained as an engineer, Ramos saw combat in Korea, Vietnam and back home fighting first Huk guerrillas and then Communist insurgents. He rose steadily in the ranks, becoming Marcos’ assistant for military affairs in 1968 and head of the constabulary in 1972. He became acting chief of staff after Marcos’ chief henchman, Gen. Fabian Ver, was charged with murder in the 1983 assassination of Aquino’s husband, Benigno.

Ramos finally broke with Marcos in February, 1986, when he joined then-Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile in an ill-planned military revolt. As the tense four-day standoff grew, Ramos convinced key pro-Marcos officers not to attack. Finally, after hundreds of thousands of civilians stood up to the dictator’s tanks, Marcos and his family fled in U.S. helicopters.

Ramos stood by Aquino’s side as she was sworn in as president, and stayed by her side through six years of mounting crises to ensure her survival. With her endorsement, Aquino is repaying that debt.

Biography

Name: Fidel V. Ramos

Title: Presidential candidate.

Age: 63

Career: West Point graduate, 1950. Saw combat in Korea, Vietnam, Philippines fighting Communist insurgents. Assistant for military affairs under dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, 1968. Head of Philippine Constabulary, 1972. Acting chief of staff. Helped lead revolt that toppled Marcos, 1986. Philippine defense secretary.

Personal: Protestant in mainly Roman Catholic country. Intensely private. Has wife and five daughters. Second cousin of Marcos.

Quote: Politics is “too serious to leave to political bosses and warlords.”