THE PHILIPPINES YESTERDAY AND TODAY LIVING WITH CORRUPT POLITICIANS BUT NOW REFORMED JUMPING FROM 134TH TO 94TH IN THE INVESTMENT GRADE RATING–HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERNET FROM THE USA CORRUPT POLITICIANS WHO DEALS WITH SOCIALISM TO STAY IN POWER

….. Repairing an economy suffering from decades of neglect isn’t a six-year job. Although Aquino and his finance chief, Cesar Purisima, set the stage for a cleaner government, the Philippines’s 7 percent jobless rate is the highest among major Asian economies. Aquino and Purisima did much in four years to revitalize growth but they could have done more. Now is the time to accelerate efforts to create new jobs, as opposed to shipping millions of workers overseas.

“The problems we inherited, we have solved,” Aquino declared yesterday. “The ones that are here, we are solving. The ones that are to come, we are preparing for.”
Yet the risk, as is often the case in the Philippines, is who comes next. In 1998, when Fidel Ramos left the presidency, few thought his successors could derail his economic-reform drive. Estrada and Arroyo (both were arrested on corruption charges) did just that. So, the stability of a geopolitically important nation of 100 million-plus people hinges on continuity.

It’s anyone’s guess whether the current frontrunner, Vice President Jejomar Binay, is such a leader. Perhaps we’ll know after authorities get to the bottom of a multimillion-dollar plunder case against him dating back to alleged actions during his days as Makati City mayor in 2007. It’s also worth noting that the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos (Aquino’s dad was assassinated in 1983 while trying to unseat Marcos) may run in 2016. So might Senator Bong Revilla, who was arrested last month on graft charges.

The Philippines has traveled a long way in just a few years. Its growth and confidence have enough momentum to withstand some bad decisions, perhaps even some of the corruption so endemic to public affairs. But amid such political risks and economic imponderables, it’s incumbent upon Aquino to use every day he has left in Malacaan Palace to ensure his reforms can’t be easily undone.

When I last met Aquino in February, in that very palace, he made a point of showing me the official presidential portrait of his mother, the late Corazon Aquino. “She taught me to remember that the Filipino is worth fighting for,” he said. I like that he repeated that line in yesterday’s address. Because that’s exactly what he needs to do each day for another two years.

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