Growth rates and credit upgrades failed to save Mr. Aquino

President Aquino has this supreme belief that a political economy is mostly the economic part—undisputed growth figures enough to impress the impresarios of good economic housekeeping. That the markets, thriving and booming and free, will not only help elevate him into the pantheon of great Filipino leaders. The bullish markets and growth rates will also be his shield against his critics and his political enemies. On the wrath of the people, he has this unshakeable view: improve the economy and avoid stealing from public funds and there will be no massive outrage from his governed.

There was no precedent to that governing thesis. No administration in our contemporary history, except the administration of Mr. Aquino, has achieved growth year–on-year at a scale and scope that was enough to impress the Davos/ MBC crowd. The administration of Mr. Ramos, while it got puff pieces on its “emerging dragon” status, succumbed to an epic fail at its later stages, the failures came mainly from the brutal wages of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.