Traders punched the air in delight and across the business district of Makati there was talk of a new beginning. The next day, the market slipped 45 points. A sense of the reality that awaits the country had already eclipsed the euphoria. It will take a lot more than just a change of president to mend the Philippines. But the country's woes go back a long way and down a long way too, to the core of political and economic life.
Corruption runs unchecked.
The gap between the impoverished masses and a thin layer of super-wealthy grows ever wider. The economy is in steep decline. International investors have turned skeptical and taken their money elsewhere. This is a country in crisis. She knows the answer to that.