RECOGNIZED AT LAST
So when Fitch Ratings gave the Philippines the latter’s first investment-grade credit rating in March 2013 nearly halfway through the term of former president Benigno S. C. Aquino III (June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2016) — citing the country’s “persistent current account surplus, underpinned by remittance inflows, [that] has led to the emergence of a net external creditor position” and relatively strong economic growth — it was careful to note that “improvements in fiscal management begun under President Arroyo have made general government debt dynamics more resilient to shocks.”
Other debt watchers followed suit, including S&P Global Ratings (May 2013), Moody’s Investors Service (October 2013), Japan Credit Rating Agency Ltd. (May 2013), Japan’s Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (July 2014) and South Korea’s National Information and Credit Evaluation Ratings, Inc. (September 2014).
Former World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick had said in September 2011 that the Aquino administration ushered in “extensive reforms in its budget management process, such as enhancing transparency and calling on more civil society participation” as well as measures to improve governance in state enterprises and strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman.
UA&P’s Mr. Villegas cited Mr. Aquino’s “anti- corruption and good governance measures” as his key contribution to the country’s growth promise.
Mr. Aquino had punctuated his inaugural speech with a call for “walang lamangan, walang padrino, at walang magnanakaw (no more unfair advantages, no more patronage politics, no more graft and corruption)” and “walang wang-wang, walang counterflow, walang tong” — in reference to the practice of dignitaries of skirting traffic rules with the help of police escorts as well as enforcers mulcting — and made “matuwid na daan” (the straight path) his battle cry for his administration’s focus on improving governance.
He made an example of his predecessor, now House Deputy Speaker Gloria M. Arroyo representing Pampanga’s second district, who was jailed in 2012 for alleged diversion of some P366 million in state lottery charity funds between 2008 and 2010 until that case was dismissed by the Supreme Court in July last year.
His administration also saw the impeachment in 2012 of the late Chief Justice Renato S. Corona — a first in Philippine history — for omission of major assets from his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth required of all state officials and employees each year.
In raising the Philippines’ credit rating to investment grade, Fitch had noted, among others, that “[ g] overnance reform has been a centerpiece of the Aquino administration’s policy efforts.” Three years later, it wrote in a note after President Rodrigo R. Duterte handily won the May 2016 presidential race that “sovereign ratings assessment will continue to focus on the sustainability of economic growth and improvements in governance.”
Saying its May 2016 affirmation of the Philippines’ “BBB-” investment grade “reflected economic growth and fiscal and external finances and improved governance under President Benigno Aquino III,” Fitch said: “Governance standards and competitiveness indicators as measured by international organizations, showed steady improvement through the Aquino administration.”
The country improved its ranking in governance-related indicators among economies tracked by the World Economic Forum’s annual The Global Competitiveness Report in the Aquino years:
• 86th out of 138 economies in the 2016-2017 report from 123rd out of 139 economies in the 20102011 report in terms of “transparency of government policy making,”
• 94th/ 138 from 131st/139 in “favoritism in decisions of government officials,”
• 99th/ 138 from 134th/ 139 in “public trust in politicians,”