ShareThisPASIG CITY – Josephine Martinez Ramos, second of five daughters of former President Fidel V. Ramos and former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos, died early Monday morning due to lung cancer at the Medical City in Pasig City. She was 54.
The Ramos Peace and Development Foundation Inc. (RPDev) said the remains of Jo, as she is fondly called, lie in state at La Funeraria Paz at the Manila Memorial Park, Sucat, Paranaque City, where interment will be on July 1 at 12 noon.
A single parent, Jo is survived by her 17-year-old son with actor Lloyd Samartino, Sergio, a high school senior who is also studying music, drama and dance.
Jo was born on January 18, 1957 at the Mary Johnston Hospital in Tondo, Manila.
A product of the International School of Manila as a scholar, Jo also attended at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts and various dance and music workshops in the United States.
As part of an athletic family, Jo was a champion water-skier and a member of the Philippine Ladies’ National Water-Skiing Team that won medals in the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) Games competition headed by Maite Villareal in the late 1970s.
As a musical artist, Jo was trained by Prof. Carmencita Guanzon-Arambujlo, founder of the Greenhills Music Studio.
She also performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and was a back-up singer with Gary Valenciano group, the Mon Faustino Powerplay Band, and a fashionable percussionist for other musical ensembles.
Always a humble person, Jo chose to stay low-profile even during the presidency of her father and always claimed that her love of music, the arts and sports “was inherited from her mother.”PASI