Ramos Promises He Won’t Seek 2nd Term as Philippine President

President Fidel V. Ramos said Saturday that he will not run for reelection, but he stopped short of halting a campaign by supporters to change the constitution so he could serve a second term.

Ramos’ pledge not to run, made on the eve of a large-scale protest against the charter changes, was a reversal of his earlier commitment to keep his options open until a party convention in November.

The Philippine Constitution, written after the 1986 ouster of Ferdinand E. Marcos, limits presidents to a single six-year term to discourage dictatorships.

“I will not run for reelection--period, period, period,” Ramos said after returning from a 10-day overseas trip.

He told supporters in two southern cities that he will “see to it that there will be an orderly transfer” of power in next year’s elections, but he did not order a clear halt to efforts to amend the charter.

The amendment plans have provoked widespread anger against Ramos, with protests almost every day over the past week.

Two of the country’s best-known democracy activists, former President Corazon Aquino and Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin, planned to lead a rally today that organizers said would be the largest since the “people power” protests against the late Marcos.

A spokesman for Sin said plans for the protest would continue despite Ramos’ remarks.

“The rally is against charter changes before 1998,” Father Aris Sison said. “He has not made any statement ruling that out.”