After President Aguino’s term, the next elected president was Fidel Valdez Ramos, with Joseph Estrada as his vice-president. He took his oath of presidency on 27 July 1992.
Ramos was the first Protestant president of the country. Nevertheless, he served the people without bias towards any religion. He is the son of Narciso Ramos, a politician, and Angela Valdez, a teacher in Lingayen, Pangasinan. He finished engineering at the National University, and took his master’s at the University of Illinois. He also studied at the West Point Academy. He began his service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines as second lieutenant until he became the AFP Vice-Chief-of-Staff. This was his position when he and Juan Ponce Enrile defected to the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986. (Villangca 1998)
During his term as president of the country, Ramos believed in three concepts: “Unity, Strength, and Assistance”. Through this slogan, the politics, economy, and culture of the Filipinos progressed.
President Ramos aspired for the Philippines to be a Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) by year 2000 under his “Philippines 2000” program.