President Benigno S. Aquino III confers on Napoleon Rama the Philippine Legion of Honor with the rank of Grand Commander (Maringal na Komandante) during the People Power Awards at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall in Malacañang in this Feb. 26, 2011 photo by the Malacañang Photo Bureau.
Political writer and former newspaper publisher Napoleon Rama passed away last Sunday due to heart failure. He was 92 years old.
Suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he received news of his uncle’s death from his cousin, talent manager Annabelle Rama, last Sunday afternoon.
He said his uncle, who lived with his family in Manila, was brought to a private hospital there a few days ago.
“We, in the Rama family, are in mourning. He has left us a lot of very beautiful memories,” the mayor said in a press conference yesterday noon.
He said his uncle’s wake will be held at Forbes Park in Makati City.
The family has yet to set a date for interment. The mayor said he will fly to Manila today to attend the vigil wake.
Napoleon was the son of former senator Vicente Rama, considered the “Father of Cebu City” for authoring the law that made Cebu City a chartered city.
He was the last living cellmate of former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. during the martial law era.
With his death, Mayor Rama said the only living child of Don Vicente Rama is his aunt Corazon Del Prado-Rama.
Gina Rama, Napoleon’s daughter, said her father had lived a full life.
“He had a very peaceful and happy death. We were praying the rosary until his last breath,” Gina said in a telephone interview.
She said they brought him to the hospital after he suffered a stroke a few days ago.
She said her father was “very much at peace” and didn’t show any struggles.
The mayor, who recalled that he would volunteer to be his uncle’s driver when Napoleon would visit Cebu, said the elder Rama never reprimanded him.
“It’s just sad that my political mentor, my idol in many other things (has passed away). . . As an uncle, you could hardly hear kasaba (reprimands) from him but (he gave us) wisdom, guidance and political advice,” he told reporters.
Napoleon was the majority floor leader during the Constitutional Convention in 1971 when the 1935 Constitution had to be amended.
An article posted on Malacañang’s website (malacanang.gov.ph) said Napoleon was a political writer of the Philippine Free Press magazine.
He was also vice president of the 1971 Constitutional Convention.
The same article said Napoleon was among those detained in Fort Bonifacio with former senator Aquino, father of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
After the EDSA revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Napoleon was appointed to the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution, the article said.
Napoleon was also co-founder of the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN). He ran under the Laban ticket for Metro Manila in the 1978 interim elections.
The party was then headed by the late Ninoy Aquino, who was incarcerated at that time.
They ran against the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), which was led by then-first lady Imelda Marcos.
Napoleon, a Palanca awardee, was a columnist and publisher of the Manila Bulletin from 1978 to 2007.
In a statement, the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) said Rama was among the journalists arrested and jailed during martial law.
CCPC Executive Director Pachico Seares said Rama’s writings in the Philippine Free Press placed him on the list of “actual and potential threats to the state” along with Cebuano media colleagues Juan Mercado who was also based in Manila with Rama and Resil Mojares who wrote in Cebu.
“They were journalists in that dangerous time. Martial law has since been a constant reminder of how a free and active press could be silenced or fettered,” Seares said.
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