From: news@netnews.upenn.edu (USENET News System)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.filipino
Subject: Phil 1992 Yearender
Date: 21 Dec 92 17:02:43 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.filipino
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


	
	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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