When one talks about enduring love, one song easily comes to mind and it’s Crystal Gale’s “A Long and Lasting Love.”
Here are some enchanting lines of Gale’s song: “A long and lasting love / Not many people find it / But those who do their whole life through / Put their heart and soul behind it / A long and lasting love / Is what I’ve always dreamed of / A special bond / That goes beyond the changing of the seasons / A long and lasting love / Someone I can care for / Someone to be there for the rest of my life / A long and lasting love.”
For former President Fidel V. Ramos and his wife of 65 years, former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Martinez Ramos, theirs is a union that has become enduring and long lasting just like Gale’s stirring song.
Their love and marriage have withstood the test of time that FVR recently even devoted a five-part series in his Sunday Manila Bulletin sermons to honor his wife and the legacy of Madam Ming.
FVR’s columns featured the various facets of Ming Ramos as an understanding wife to a military officer who rose to become President as well as a doting mother to their five daughters Angel, Jo, Cristy, Chula, and Margie, and now as a loving grandmother to their eight grandchildren.
In 2009, I was privileged to author a book on the life and times of the former First Lady titled “Simply Ming” which was FVR’s loving way and thoughtful gift in grateful appreciation of his wife.
Just like FVR columns, Simply Ming recounts their friendship as classmates at UP High School and as neighbors at Padre Faura; Eddie’s courtship to Ming and how they fell in love; her ability to balance her time in raising their children and fulfil her duties as the wife of a decorated military officer, and, later as President.
Simply Ming book also featured her other traits and facets as a career professional and educator environmentalist, sports leader, musician, social worker and as a First Lady who was a woman full of substance.
At the tail-end of the Ramos presidency, Madam Ming wrote a column titled “Beside Eddie,” and she shared, “Despite the fact that I am the First Lady now, I am still working for mostly the same reasons 45 years ago at the International School Manila. However, the experience has been a wonderful one with its share of happy moments and trying moments. I am proud to say that the last six years have been a good family bonding experience for us. Certainly, after the six-year stint, any other problem not national in scope that Eddie and I will encounter in the future will pale in comparison!”
As for FVR’s appreciation of Madam Ming, here is a hearty and lovely letter he penned on Mother’s Day in 1995 which is reprinted below:
“Dearest Ming,
Happy Mother’s Day is too short a phrase, sometimes too impersonal and unoriginal especially between two people who have shared almost a lifetime together. Certainly we have more thoughts to share and express.
We are at this moment separated by a continent, the Pacific Ocean and the US continent—and a thirteen-hour time difference—not by official duties but by something more precious—Margie’s college graduation in Atlanta, Georgia. I hope that Margie will understand and forgive my absence during her commencement day, just as you and d’girls have been understanding of my career as a military man, Cabinet member, jobless candidate, and now as President.
This kind of separation is something not new to us, as my military duties have often taken me away from all of you. The responsibilities of the Presidency are certainly now more demanding of our personal time.
We marvel at your never-ending patience, love, and support—manifested by the tireless work you have done to assure the children and me the warmth of home. You are my source of strength wherever I go and in everything I do. It is your comforting support (and that of d’girls and grandchildren) that has motivated me and guaranteed whatever successes we have enjoyed.
It is to your credit that we have five wonderful and upright daughters. They have always been our great pride and joy. We are glad that when you had to take on the role of father and driver during my absences, you made sure that they never forgot about me! Truly, being a mother and wife is difficult enough, but you have proven to be more.
Not once did we see you falter. Today, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, how can we fully express the depth and breadth of our love and gratitude to you for giving everything a husband, father and family could ever want?
With all our love, Eddie”
Straight from FVR’s heart, his Mother’s Day letter reflects the kind of relationship that they both shared in the many years being together.
When asked what she considers her greatest achievement in life? Without batting an eyelash, Ming replied, “Sticking to Eddie Ramos through thick and thin all these years.”
As FVR used to joke around, “According to Madam Ming, the longest phrase in the English dictionary is ‘I Do.’ But seriously, it’s one such commitment that I have always treasured for a lifetime.” This article was written by Melandrew Velasco, official biographer of the Ramos family, as a special tribute to the Ramoses and their ilk.