Fidel Valdez Ramos

Fidel Valdez Ramos was born in Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1950 and earned a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois. He served with distinction in the Korean War and as a non-combat engineering commander in the Vietnam War.

As Chief of the Philippine Constabulary under his second cousin Ferdinand Marcos, Ramos took a historic turn in February 1986: alongside Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, he defected from Marcos, providing military protection to hundreds of thousands of unarmed citizens in the EDSA People Power Revolution that restored democracy. As Chief of Staff and Defense Secretary under Corazon Aquino, Ramos crushed nine attempted military coup attempts. Elected President in 1992, his administration ("Philippines 2000") dismantled monopolies in telecommunications and banking, ended widespread electrical power crises, negotiated a landmark 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and turned the Philippines into an Asian tiger economy.