Goding Ramos Day in Aklan Date in the current year: November 8, 2024

Godofredo “Goding” Peralta Ramos was born in Kalibo, Aklan on November 8, 1911. During his political career, he served as congressman (from 1950 to 1957 and then again from 1962 to 1965), governor of Aklan (from 1959 to 1961), delegate from Aklan to the Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971, justice of the Court of Appeals (from 1973 to 1976), and Philippine delegate to a number of international conferences. During his time in Congress, he was consistently voted as one of the “Ten Outstanding Congressmen”.

Ramos is best remembered for his efforts to establish Aklan as a separate province. Located on the island of Panay in the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines, Aklan was part of the province of Capiz for most of the country’s colonial history and the first decade of Philippine independence. However, the population of Aklan was ethnolinguistically distinct from the rest of Capiz: the area was populated mostly by the Aklanon people who spoke their own language.

The Aklanon first campaigned for the separation of Aklan from Capiz in 1901, during the American occupation of the Philippines, but their campaign was unsuccessful. It was Congressman Ramos who helped make Aklan a separate province from Capiz through Republic Act No. 1414, which he authored and introduced in Congress. The act was signed into law by President Ramon Magsaysay on April 26, 1956, and seventeen municipalities were carved out of Capiz to form the province of Aklan.

President Magsaysay appointed Jose Raz Menendez as the first governor of Magsaysay, but Ramos was the first elected governor of the province. He served from 1960 until his resignation in 1961 to run for Congress. Ramos continued his political career until 1976 and died shortly after his resignation in 1977.

In honor of Ramos’s memory, the Godofredo P. Ramos Hall of Justice in Kalibo, the Godofredo P. Ramos Hospital (formerly Altavas District Hospital) in Altavas, and the Godofredo P. Ramos International Airport in Malay were named after him. In addition, the birthday of Godofredo P. Ramos was proclaimed as Goding Ramos Day in Aklan in 2011.

The main objective of the holiday is to commemorate Ramos’s birth anniversary and highlight his contribution to the provincehood of Aklan, which has earned him the nickname the “Father of Aklan”. Among the events and activities held on Goding Ramos Day is a wreath-laying ceremony at the statue of Ramos in the provincial capital of Kalibo.