Napoleon "Nap" Genson Rama, PLH (July 27, 1923 – January 10, 2016) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Visayan Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group ...

lawyer, journalist, and writer in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

from

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He was the Vice President of the 1971 Constitutional Convention and the Floor Leader of the 1986 Constitutional Commission. In 2011, he was awarded the

Philippine Legion of Honor The Philippine Legion of Honor ( fil, Lehiyong Pandangal ng Pilipinas; es, Legion de Honor Filipino) was established by President Manuel Roxas, through Philippine Army Circular No. 60 dated July 3, 1947. The Philippine Legion of Honor was patterne ...

, the country's highest recognition, with the rank of Grand Commander on the 25th anniversary of the

EDSA Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA, is a limited-access circumferential highway around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It passes through 6 of Metro Manila's 17 local government units or citie ...

1 Revolution by President

Benigno S. Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

Early life

Napoleon Rama, son of statesman

Vicente Rama Vicente Rama (June 6, 1887 – December 24, 1956) was a Filipino Visayan legislator, publisher, and writer from Cebu, Philippines. Recognized as the Father of Cebu City, he authored the bill for its cityhood which was approved into law by Octobe ...

and Catalina Genson, was born on July 27, 1923. He married Paz Ramos and the couple had five children namely Liza Grace, Napoleon Jr., Ma. Gina Linda, Ma. Pamela and Ronald. In college, he attended the University of San Carlos and was the school paper's editor-in-chief, and became a lawyer on January 26, 1952.

Career

Journalism

A lawyer by profession, he represented Vicente Rubi's copyright case for the song "Kasadya ning Taknaa" that had a Tagalog version, "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit." He wrote for the '' Philippine Free Press'', and his article "North Borneo Belongs To Us" was a landmark publication that was used by the Philippines as a basis to claim

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. Awarded "Journalist of the Year" in 1959, he worked for the '' Philadelphia Bulletin'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and was the editor of ''El Observatorio'', a Spanish newspaper in Cebu. Additionally, he was the publisher of ''

Manila Bulletin The ''Manila Bulletin'' (), (also known as the ''Bulletin'' and previously known as the ''Manila Daily Bulletin'' from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the ''Bulletin Today'' from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest ...

'' and writer for its Sunday periodical, ''Philippine Panorama'', starting in 1987 until his retirement at the age of 83 in 2007. He also wrote the book ''A Time in the Life of a Filipino'' which documented the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino, and was the president of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) twice. As a political writer, he wrote various topics including investigative articles on tax declarations of elected officials, social problems, and stories of

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

. He was also known to advocate for the use of English as

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

Politics

He served as delegate and the Vice President of the 1971 Constitutional Convention when it opened on June 1, 1971, and was part of the group that initiated Ban Marcos resolution that prohibited Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda from being part of the Convention and from being voted to any elective position, which failed to prosper in the convention. At the height of the martial law in the Philippines, he was incarcerated at the

Fort Bonifacio Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly named Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is located near the national headquarter ...

in 1972. Other personalities that were detained included

Benigno Aquino Jr. Benigno "Ninoy" Simeon Aquino Jr., (; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac. Aquino was the husband of Corazon Aqui ...

, Ramon Mitra Jr., and Francisco Rodrigo. A petition for

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

was filed on their behalf. Together with his friend Benigno Aquino Jr., he founded the political party

Lakas ng Bayan Lakas ng Bayan ( en, Power of the People), abbreviated as Laban, was a political party in the Philippines formed by Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. for the 1978 Interim Batasang Pambansa regional elections. The party had 21 candidates for t ...

(LABAN) against the Marcos-backed Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). In 1978, he ran for the

Interim Batasang Pambansa The Interim Batasang Pambansa (English: Interim National Assembly) was the legislature of the Republic of the Philippines from its inauguration on June 12, 1978 to June 5, 1984. It served as a transitional legislative body mandated by the 1973 ...

elections and lost as it was dominated by KBL candidates. After

EDSA revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...

, he was appointed by then President Corazon Aquino as delegate of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the

1987 Philippine Constitution The Constitution of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish: ''Constitución de la República de Filipinas'') is the constitution or the supreme law of the Republic of the Philippine ...

and became the commission's Floor Leader.

Later years

He was awarded "Most Outstanding Alumnus of Universidad de San Carlos", the Ninoy Aquino Memorial Award in 1990, and the 1992

Premio Zobel Premio Zóbel is a Philippine literary award conferred on Filipino writers in Spanish language. It was established to revivify the Spanish language and to promote the best writing created by Filipino authors in the language. Founded in 1920, it ...

, the oldest Spanish literary award in the country. During the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution in 2011, then president Benigno Simeon Aquino conferred upon him the

with the rank of Grand Commander. He succumbed to diabetes and pneumonia at St. Luke's Hospital in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,960,048 people. It was fou ...

and died on January 10, 2016.

Awards and recognition

* 2011

(Grand Commander Rank) * 1959 Journalist of the Year in

* 1990 Ninoy Aquino Memorial Award * 1992

* Most Outstanding Alumnus of the University of San Carlos of

Publication

* ''A Time in the Life of a Filipino'' (9 September 2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rama, Napoeleon 1923 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Filipino writers 20th-century Filipino lawyers University of San Carlos alumni Filipino columnists Manila Bulletin people Filipino reporters and correspondents Marcos martial law victims English-language writers from the Philippines Members of the Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986