That includes education. Thailand, with about 10 million fewer people than the Philippines, spends seven times more on educating its young. Budgets have been sucked dry by venal politicians doling out favors to political supporters. The schools are in a shameful state. Children share poorly produced books or go without.
Teachers are ill-trained and class sizes are too large to offer decent instruction.
The result is a further exacerbation of the social divide, with poor kids going on to lowly paid jobs or, more likely, to no job at all. Such a move would strike right at Arroyo's own social and economic class. For a fairer distribution of the country's wealth, the elite will have to give up some of their advantages. Many of the Philippines' rich are chronic tax evaders living in fabulous homes in security-ringed villages. The government seems to be making some of the right first steps.