The Philippines' economic growth in the last five years has been the best in recent memory. Much of the credit has gone to President Benigno Aquino and his anti-corruption platform. But with Filipinos set to elect their next president on Monday, the country has entered a period of uncertainty. Will the next president be able to build on the success?
Manila’s financial district is everything the Aquino administration has been touting. Foreign investors setting up shop that provides jobs for the country’s young workforce who, together with the families of millions of Filipinos working abroad, keep the economy going by spending.
"This current administration played a great role in unleashing that potential. I mean we’ve always had a lot of talented people. We’ve always had a lot of natural resources. We’ve always had all of these strengths for a long time but it seems like it’s really just starting to show its full potential now," said economist Emilio Neri, Jr..
Under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino, the Philippine economy has grown more than 6 percent. It’s gone from being the Sick Man of Asia to becoming the region’s rising star. Question is – will the country be able to keep the momentum going once Aquino steps down in June?
Some economists believe the Philippines is crisis-proof, but other analysts say the elections could undo gains made in the last few years.
"If you have a president who’s polarizing, if you have a president that provokes crises, protests and coup d’etat, you can imagine capital flight and you can imagine the international investment community saying, “Oh, so the last six years of the Philippines was a sui generis, it was just a deviation. The Philippines is still the Sick Man of Asia," said political analyst Richard Javad Heydarian.
That, seemingly, is what many Filipinos believe. Despite the stellar economic growth, infrastructure has not been able to keep up, and most Filipinos say their lives haven’t improved. Aquino’s chosen successor, Mar Roxas, is trailing in pre-election surveys. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who’s known for his profanity but also for being able to get things done, is leading.
He says he won’t hesitate to ask other countries, including China, for development assistance and investment, but before that can happen, drugs and criminality must be eradicated.
"Nobody in his right mind would come here and invest when everything is topsy-turvy, when there’s kidnappers and a lot of shootings are being done by bad guys every day," said Presidential Candidate Rodrigo Duterte.
That, in a word, is stability. But in the same breath, Duterte also says a president must be willing to kill. It’s statements like that that could prove to be unsettling for investors.
