Ramos was born on February 17, 1944, in the municipality of Gubat in Sorsogon, the youngest of six children born to Gubat native Deogracias Pura Ramos Sr. and Vicenta Bañares from Barcelona. Her father was a Philippine Army veteran who retired as a colonel and her maternal grandfather, Donato Bañares, worked as a judge in Barcelona.[1] She attended primary school, initially at Gubat Elementary School and then at Lourdes College in Cagayan de Oro where the family moved when her father was stationed briefly in Mindanao. She finished her elementary education at Albert Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila.[1]
Ramos returned to her hometown of Gubat, Sorsogon, in 1965 and started her career as a high school teacher of English literature at Saint Louise de Marillac College. In 1974, she joined the tourism industry and worked as an English speaking tour guide for the Department of Tourism during the administration of Secretary Jose Aspiras, which also required her to learn Japanese.[1]
In 1976, Ramos embarked on a long professional career as a travel agent, starting with C.F. Sharp shipping company. A year later, she was hired as an inbound tour manager for the Philippine unit of Lufthansa and Hapag-Lloyd, a position she held for 29 years. She retired from those companies in 2006 at age 60.[1]
Politics
Ramos entered politics in the 2019 Philippine House of Representatives elections as a candidate of the Nationalist People's Coalition for Sorsogon-2nd district representative to replace her term-limited brother, Deogracias "Ding" Ramos Jr., who also previously served as Gubat mayor.[4] She won the district race with 110,264 votes, beating former Sorsogon governor Robert Rodrigueza Lee of PDP–Laban, Randy Medina of Lakas and independent candidate Juan Escandor.[5]
Ramos was unmarried and had no children.[1] She had five siblings: Deogracias Jr., a politician; Joe, a lawyer; Antonio; Carmen, a medical doctor; and Maria Paz, a chemical engineer and editor.[1]
Death
Ramos died on September 8, 2020, at the age of 76 from complications of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sorsogon.[9] She was earlier diagnosed with cancer but had tested positive for coronavirus just two days prior to her death.[10] She was identified as COVID-19 Bicol patient #1467.[8]
Ramos was the second member of the Philippine Congress to have died from the disease, after Senior Citizens Partylist representative Francisco Datol Jr. who died the previous month.[3] Sorsogon Governor Francis Escudero declared three days of mourning until September 11 during which all Philippine flags in the province were flown at half-mast.[11]
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