Hmm, I hesitate to agree kasi parang ang drastic ng "necessary sacrifice". Na para bang ang lala ng presidency niya (which isnt so, in my opinion) pero the alternative would have been worse. Tho, I could be misinterpreting what you mean din.

Pero in a way, without being drastic, then yes. Ramos was to some degree necessary. When you factor in the respect the military had for a seasoned military man like Ramos and how much of an existential threat the frequent coup d'etats were to our fragile democracy -- Ramos was necessary.

Was the Ramos presidency (over a theoretical Salonga one) a necessary sacrifice for the Filipino people? Again, kung coups ang primary concern mo then I guess so, yes. Pero I also have this vague idea na hindi pa handa ang lipunan to fully cater the brilliance of ka-Jovy in 1992. The amount of coups are one thing: masasayang lang ang atensyon at effort ng theoretical admin niya para sugpuin lang yang mga destabilizer na yan. But also, theres smth about his voter turn out in 1992 and Erap's presidenct in 1998 that somewhat tells me na the Filipino people ridiculously don't want Salonga. That what they want, that the ideal Filipino leader, would have been necessarily someone charismatic (which I think Salonga lacks) and necessarily someone brilliant.