Philippine Leader Sees Strength Through Trade : Pacific Rim: President Ramos urges Filipino Americans to help build ties. He says he has received pledges of $2.5 billion in investments from U.S. firms.

Urging Southern California’s Filipino Americans to work together to promote strong trade ties between the United States and their mother country, Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos drew enthusiastic applause Sunday morning in an appearance before more than 7,000 Filipino Americans at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

“As the saying goes: ‘Never mind the weather, as long as we’re together,’ ” said Ramos, who is on his first official visit to the United States since U.S. military forces departed the Philippines. The U.S. departure was forced when the Philippine Senate rejected a new lease for the Subic Bay Naval Base two years ago.

With the bases gone, Ramos said, future ties between the nations can be based on economic trade rather than foreign aid.

Ramos led the 1986 military revolt that helped ensure the triumph of former President Corazon Aquino’s “people power” revolution over authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos. Ramos made his brief stopover in the Los Angeles area on the heels of his participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Seattle with President Clinton and leaders of 12 other Pacific Rim nations.

In 11 days crisscrossing the United States, Ramos, elected president last year, said he has received pledges of more than $2.5 billion in corporate investments from firms based in the United States. Put in perspective, that is five times as much as RLA officials say they have received in corporate commitments to rebuild neglected neighborhoods of Los Angeles--including the one where the Sports Arena is located--since the 1992 riots.

“So many people here have ties--relatives, friends and admirers (back in the Philippines),” Ramos told the crowd. “The Philippines and the United States have a community of common interests.”

With more than 700,000 Filipino Americans, California is home to the largest Filipino community outside the Pacific Ocean archipelago. A diverse cross-section of Filipino Americans, young and old, were on hand for the early morning speech and cultural entertainment program.

Many in the crowd carried New Year’s Eve-style noisemakers distributed at the door. “It’s easier than clapping,” said Waldo Q. Flores, corporate secretary for the Philippine National Bank, who had a seat on the arena’s floor.

Interspersed in the rafters--between advertisements for the Clippers, the state lottery and Target stores--were banners hoisted by Filipino American clubs based in Baldwin Park, Moreno Valley and San Diego.

Brian DeLeon, president of the 200-member Filipino Club at UC Irvine, said he came to learn more about the culture and politics of the land his parents departed when he was 5.

“I want to regain my heritage,” said DeLeon as a Filipino pop group onstage sang a version, in English, of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”

Salve Yat, a teen-ager from Cerritos, said she attended largely because of rumors of an appearance by Filipino-bred pop star Lea Salonga, who won a Tony for her performance in “Miss Saigon.”

When Salonga did not show, Yat, standing in the loge, appeared content taking photos of the less splashy president.

However, most were there to hear from Ramos, whom they credited with bringing some stability to a politically fractious and economically despondent nation that suffered through the tyranny of the Marcos regime followed by several coup attempts during the Aquino era.

“When I was in the Philippine Naval Reserve, he was the commander in chief, so he was my boss,” said Cesar Torres, 45, now a freight forwarder at Los Angeles International Airport. “He’s a real hero--I was there with him during the revolution.”