PERHAPS the most positive thing that might be said about the 5.6-percent expansion of the economy in the second quarter is that “It could have been worse.”

The growth of the Philippines’ gross domestic product in the April-June period, as announced yesterday by the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) was, in fact, the third highest growth rate in this part of the world, trailing only China and Vietnam. But for a country that has grown accustomed to being the darling of the world’s business media as one of the ‘hottest’ economies in Asia, if not the entire planet, the second-quarter results were definitely underwhelming.

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