MANILA -- President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday paid tribute to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev who died at the age of 91 on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

“I share the grief of other world leaders over the death of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union,” Marcos said in a statement.

The President said Gorbachev is best remembered for the disbandment of his own political party, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which has the biggest membership in the world.

“He is credited for ‘glasnost’ referring to political reforms and ‘perestroika’ for economic restructuring,” Marcos said.

Marcos also recognized the reforms implemented by Gorbachev.

“That the world is much safer now and there is greater freedom for millions of people in the former communist countries in Eastern Europe was in part because of Mr. Gorbachev’s political and economic reforms,” Marcos said.

“The Filipino people condole with the Russian people for the loss of a great leader in the person of Mikhail Gorbachev, and we pray he rests in peace,” the President said. (PND)