A lady of substance
LAST weekend we paid our respects to former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani an advocate for the best for the Filipino and the Philippine nation. I first met Senator Shahani when, as the director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UPISSI), we assisted her in the conceptualization and drafting of the Magna Carta for Small Enterprises (RA 6977) which she authored in the Senate and then Congressman Gary Teves authored in the House. I found Senator Shahani very conversant with the situation of the small and medium entrepreneurs as well as down-to-earth and with a very common-sense approach in creating the legislation that would provide a nurturing environment for the small businessmen. While I was head of UPISSI, the country’s pioneer institution in SME and entrepreneurship development, I became her student in navigating the legislative mill as well as in arriving at a deeper understanding of the plight of Philippine small business.
Later on as Undersecretary of Trade and Industry and vice-chairman and managing head of the Board of Investments, I accompanied Senator Shahani to Taiwan to promote Philippine investments. Instead of giving speeches in an investment forum, she preferred that we go on plant visits to get a better appreciation of Taiwanese business; her view was that we should identify the kind of Taiwanese business that would have greater effect on the Philippine economy and not just any enterprise. She was also concerned that the Taiwanese investors who set up their firms in the Philippines had a good appreciation of Filipino culture and would treat Filipino workers fairly and with respect.
While I worked with her on these two issues of small and medium business development and investment promotion, over the years I had the opportunity to see her push for her many advocacies.
Former Senator R en eS a gui sag, succinctly focused on one such advocacy, saying in his eulogy: “She served as our expert advocate for an independent foreign policy. She would not want us to resume being America’s last plantation nor China’s new one.”
Even when ailing, Senator Shahani reportedly delivered a fiery speech at the launch of P1NAS, a new alliance to defend Philippine sovereignty and territorial integ- rity, and strengthen efforts to forge an independent foreign policy. Formal diplomacy and tiptoeing around protocols are not going to help the Philippines thwart a bristling giant encroaching on its waters and islands, according to her. “We need a mass movement,” she said. “Citizen Diplomacy is needed to thwart the power play in the West Philippine Sea.”
Her expertise in diplomacy was of product of education and experience. After passing the Philippine Foreign Service Officer (FSO) examination, she held various high positions such as Ambassador to Australia from 1981 to 1986; secretary-general of the World Conference on the UN Decade of Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985. She became the UN assistant secretary-general for social and humanitarian affairs. Ramos-Shahani left her UN post and returned to the Philippines, where in 1987 she was elected a Senator and became the Deputy Minister for Philippine Affairs after the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
Senator Shahani had a love and passion for education. Graduating elementary and secondary level at the University of the Philippines, she finished her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and her Master in Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature after defending her doctoral thesis with highest honors.
A former dean of the Graduate School of Lyceum of the Philippines, she taught English Literature, French, Spanish, Comparative Literature, Humanities, Social Psychology and others. She was a member of the faculty of the University of the Philippines from 1954 to 1957, Queens borough Community College, New York in 1961, Brooklyn College, New York in 1962 and New School for Social Research, New York from 1962 to 1967.
Despite her ailment, she would attend religiously the meetings of the Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) allowing us to share of her wisdom and insights. She would even quietly tell me of the carabao milk and cheese which she produces on her farm where she spends time thinking about the state of farming in the country and working with farmers to adapt more efficient forms of farming.
We will miss Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani but her legacy of nationalism and service to the Filipino people is there for us to emulate..