We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from The Philippines
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
For a country known for both its strong commitment to democracy and its weak political institutions, the year 2005 was full of intrigues and challenges for the Philippines. In July the Arroyo administration almost collapsed amidst rumours of coups, political controversies, and another People Power movement, sidelining efforts towards economic reform. Yet, despite this crisis and the ensuing policy setbacks, the economy displayed unexpected resilience.
The analysis of the events of 2005 will be divided into three sections. The first deals with the country's main political events, the second with the state of the economy. The final section concludes by reflecting on the country's economic and political prospects in the short term.
Political Developments
Crisis and controversies
The year 2005 saw the Filipino President almost toppled by street protests — yet again. Despite being impeached and facing considerable public opprobrium, the Arroyo administration narrowly survived. However, at the end of the year, the controversies surrounding the President's mandate were far from settled. These issues threaten to resurface in 2006 as her administration endeavours to push for changes in the Constitution as a way of solving the gridlock that besets the Philippine political system.
Mrs Arroyo won the 2004 elections by a margin of about 1 million votes over her closest rival, actor Fernando Poe. This entailed a six-year term for Arroyo, who rose to the presidency in January 2001. The new presidential term evoked promise, as questions of Arroyo's mandate and legitimacy seemed to be resolved by her electoral victory. Yet, the optimism was short-lived as economists from the University of the Philippines warned of an impending fiscal crisis. In her July 2004 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Arroyo declared that the country's “most urgent problem” was solving the government's worsening fiscal and debt condition. Eight new revenue measures were announced as a legislative priority but Congress took its time legislating them. Because of this, credit rating agencies downgraded their ratings of the Philippines.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
