Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 23 Dec 1992 12:47:12 +1100
From:         lulu@COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU
Subject:      PH: 1992 news roundup

[accessed from soc.culture.filipino]

USENET N System: Phil 1992 Yearender
21 Dec 92 17:02
MANILA, Philippines (UPI) -- After a year laying the groundwork for
sustained growth, the Philippines enters 1993 challenged with turning
ambitious plans into progress and brave promises into better lives for its
people.

In 1992 the country held its first free presidential election in a
generation. It bade goodbye to nearly a century of U.S. military presence,
furthered peace efforts with its three armed insurgent groups and
strengthened crucial economic reforms.

But rampant crime and corruption, a chronic power shortage and numbing
poverty threaten to derail what could be the most promising period for the
country in years.

Much of the hope that the Philippines can end years of social and economic
decline lies with President Fidel Ramos, a former defense chief who
narrowly won a peaceful, seven-way election in May.

Although by no means a dynamic leader, Ramos is seen as an improvement over
his well-meaning but often ineffective predecessor, Corazon Aquino.

In his inaugural speech he promised swift, decisive action to put the
Philippines on the path to the economic success enjoyed by its Southeast
Asian neighbors.

``This nation will prevail and it will be prosperous again because we will
haul it together,'' he vowed, his 30-minute address interrupted more than
two dozen times by applause.

Ramos has unveiled initiatives designed to bolster a fledgling economic
recovery and increase social stability in a country that suffered seven
coup attempts during Aquino's six-year term.

They have met some success.

Despite continued violent crime, highlighted by a rash of kidnappings
mainly against ethnic Chinese executives, stability is growing. Government
peace efforts with the country's three insurgencies -- communist rebels,
right-wing military renegades and Muslim separatists -- are making slow but
steady progress.

Foreign investment was up 33 percent to $693 million for the first eight
months of the year. The national economy, which shrank slightly in 1991,
was expected to end 1992 with growth of 1.2 percent.

But if the Philippines is going to haul itself together, it will have to do
so with diminishing support from Washington. Ties between Manila and its
former colonial ruler and one-time major source of aid and support in
international bodies have waned with pullout of U.S. troops from the
country.

The last 1,400 U.S. troops trickled out of Subic Bay Naval Base Nov. 24,
some 94 years after Washington seized the Philippines from Spain and 46
years after it granted independence to its only colony.

After the Philippine Senate's rejection of a 10-year U.S. lease on Subic in
1991, American officials said aid and the two countries' traditional close
relations would be curtailed.

Washington in 1992 was increasingly strident in calling for Manila to trim
its $1.2 billion trade surplus with America and improve protection for U.S.
intellectual property rights.

Some Filipinos saw ordering the Americans out as throwing off the last
remnants of the colonial yoke. But the costs, at least in the short term,
were heavy: The Philippines lost about 4 percent of its $46 billion gross
national product and 35,000-on base jobs.

Manila has ambitious plans to turn the sprawling Subic Bay complex into a
Hong Kong-style free port and transshipment center. With a deep harbor and
$8 billion in infrastructure, including an air station, port and dozens of
modern office units, Subic certainly has potential.

The government says 400 companies expressed interest in setting up shop
there, but delays have frustrated many and only a handful of small firms
have made commitments.

One of the best attractions of Subic is a 26-megawatt generator giving it a
steady supply of power -- something the rest of the country lacks.

Blackouts inflicted by a chronic power shortage cost the Philippines at
least $1 billion and 400,000 jobs during 1992, according to World Bank
estimates.

With a number of small power projects in the works, the state-run National
Power Corp. says the country should suffer blackouts of only one to three
hours daily in 1993 if all facilities are up and running. This is unlikely.
Most power plants the Philippines has are old and in bad repair. Six- to
eight-hour outages caused by breakdowns are common.

While the beginning of an economic recovery is helping the wealthy few,
poverty for the masses is getting worse. One in 10 people is unemployed and
at least 35 percent of the population in greater Manila alone live in
makeshift shanties or on the street.

Meanwhile, much of the country concentrates on sideshows, such as hoping
the billions of dollars allegedly looted by the late dictator Ferdinand
Marcos during his 20-year rule somehow would be returned.

During 1992 the government fought court battles and conducted on-and- off
negotiations over the alleged wealth with Marcos's widow, Imelda, but to no
avail.
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