MANILA : Ramos Rx: Daily Prayer

In the first peaceful transition of power in the Philippines in a quarter-century, Fidel V. Ramos will be inaugurated today in Manila as the country’s eighth president, replacing the departing Corazon Aquino, who did not run for reelection.

Ramos, 64, a retired general who served as Aquino’s defense secretary, was elected with the smallest mandate in Philippine history--only 24% of the vote in a seven-way race.

Although he’s given few details, he has promised to lead the troubled nation out of its grinding poverty, political instability and military insurgencies while preserving its fragile democracy. Aquino, who survived seven coup attempts in her six years, last week urged her successor to pray “every day” he is in office.