"Who among you reads Manila Bulletin?" Ramos asked officials and guests before he started his talk at the Joint Regional City Peace and Order Councils at the Marco Polo Hotel here last Friday.
"Because if you read Manila Bulletin, try Sunday Bulletin because I have a column on it," he said.
Ramos went on by asking officials and guests to raise their hands if they read the newspaper.
But unluckily for the country's well-known salesman – and for Manila Bulletin — nobody in the audience raised their hands. Even Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, chief of the AFP Eastern Mindanao Command who sat with him on the stage, did not raise their hands.
Still, Ramos was unfazed by the cold reception.
"It's only P25. Don't be stingy because you will find it (the column) worthwhile to read. All the things I will say in this forum are all there," he said.
The former president then went on to give a lengthy discourse on the peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front he
helped forge in 1996.
Later at the press conference, Ramos or "Citizen Eddie" as he is popularly known today went on a high gear selling his column to the journalists.
When asked by reporters for a copy of his briefing papers for his lecture on the 1996 peace agreement yesterday, Ramos told them to buy the paper's Sunday edition.
"You will read my briefing in my column. It will be all written there," he told the journalists.
Ramos clarified that his hard sell for the paper is not for profits. "I do not own stocks in this paper. I am not paid for my column. Not even by column inch," he explained.
The day ended well for Ramos. After all, he proved that ex-presidents have a
life after they step out of the limelight. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
