The Cebu City government marks today, March 17, the 65th death anniversary of the late President Ramon Magsaysay with a wreath laying ceremony in front of the late President’s statue at the Plaza Independencia here in the city. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Modern politicians are encouraged to look at the leadership of the late President Ramon Magsaysay, whose creed was clean and honest governance.
Cebu City Mayor made this call as the city celebrated the 65th anniversary of the Magsaysay’s death through a wreath-laying ceremony at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, today, March 17.
“Only a few in this country that carries the conviction and the focus of the late President Ramon Magsaysay. Mao kita nga mga public servants (So us public servants), the only thing we have is to leave a legacy And what is that legacy? Making the tenets, the aspirations of that great man wished for all of us, deserving of this democracy that we now enjoy,” Rama said.
Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros, the chairperson for the Cultural Historical Affairs Commission, for his part, said that the late President Magsaysay was an example of a selfless public servant worthy of emulation.
“It is my hope that we awake a bit of Ramon Magsaysay in all of us,” Hontiveros said.
Rama said he was three years old when the crash happened, and although he does not remember much, he was told how much his family mourned the late President.
The mayor’s late uncle, Jesus Rama, was among those who perished in the crash, which was why he felt the need to celebrate the late President’s death today.
The late President Magsaysay was flying to Manila from Cebu in the wee hours of the morning on March 17, 1957 when the plane he was on crashed in Mt. Manunggal in Balamban town in western Cebu.
Magsaysay, who was the 3rd president of the country, and 26 others perished in the crash.
Today, Mayor Rama and Vice Mayor Hontiveros led the wreathlaying ceremony in front of the statue of the late President at the Plaza Independencia to mark the Magsaysay’s death anniversary.
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