Philippine President Starts 4-Day Visit to State

Philippine President Fidel Ramos landed Tuesday in Los Angeles for the first leg of a four-day visit to California, where the leader credited by some for spearheading stability and economic growth in his country is expected to meet some protests.

The president’s two-day Los Angeles itinerary includes meetings with Mayor Richard Riordan, the City Council, business leaders and Filipino Americans who fought for the United States during World War II but have yet to receive benefits from the American government.

Thursday and Friday, Ramos will be in San Diego, where he will visit UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies as well as Filipino American community leaders.

California has the largest number of Filipino residents outside the Philippines and accounts for about 40% of that nation’s trade volume with the U.S.

The visit is expected to spark some rallies against Ramos’ neoliberal economic policies. Jay Mendoza, a spokesman for the Filipino Workers’ Center, a Los Angeles-based Filipino immigrants’ rights organization, said his group will picket today, contending that such policies place burdens on small-business owners and the poor. Mendoza said his group and other organizations will also protest calls by other Filipinos to amend the country’s single, six-year presidential term, a move that could enable Ramos to stay in office beyond his scheduled departure in 1998.