Filipinos condole with the Russian people over the loss of a great leader in former President Mikhail Gorbachev, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91.

In a statement, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr:'' I share the grief of other world leaders over the death of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union.'

Marcos 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.''

Marcos added Gorbachev is also ''credited for 'glasnost', referring to political reforms and 'perestroika' for economic restructuring.

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

Gorbachev did not visit the Philippines but his foreign minister, Eduard Shevarnadze, arrived in Manila on Dec. 28, 1988 where he had a meeting with President Corazon Aquino. DMS