Ramos vows to tackle crisis in final days
Ramos vows to tackle crisis in final days
MANILA (AP): President Fidel Ramos said yesterday that in his
last 100 days in office, he will make sure the Philippines will
be the first country to recover from Asia's financial crisis.
Although hurt by currency declines and stock market upheavals,
the Philippines has been the least affected among Southeast Asian
economies, mainly due to reforms set in place before the crisis
struck last year.
"I want the Philippines to be the first country in Asia to
recover from the ongoing regional currency crisis," Ramos said in
a statement on his priorities before his term ends June 30. "We
will make it happen."
Philippine presidents are constitutionally limited to a
single, six-year term.
Ramos said signs that the country is recovering are evident,
including a strengthening of the Philippine peso against the U.S.
dollar, flourishing exports and a manageable inflation rate.
He had said recently that the regional turmoil that started
last July was enabling the Philippines, once regarded as Asia's
economic laggard, to catch up with neighbors badly battered by
the crisis.
After he took office in 1992, the 70-year-old Philippine
leader opened the economy to foreign competition, dismantled many
trade monopolies and scouted investments worldwide, enabling
Filipinos to taste economic progress after years of stagnancy.
He also undertook political reforms and sought peace with
military, Muslim separatist and Marxist insurgents.
Foreign economic experts say democracy has helped the
Philippines ward off the devastating effects of Asia's financial
storm by keeping its financial sectors more transparent and
providing better access to information that makes it easier to
detect any economic ills.
Democracy also provides checks against official excesses and
corruption that authoritarian governments such as Indonesia's
lack, the experts say.
Ramos said he also will ensure the successful staging of the
country's presidential, local and congressional elections on May
11 and the celebration in June of the Philippines' centennial of
independence from Spanish colonialism.
Eleven candidates are seeking to succeed Ramos, including
popular Vice President Joseph Estrada, the main opposition
party's standard bearer; House Speaker Jose de Venecia of the
administration party, and former first lady Imelda Marcos. Almost
all have vowed to pursue economic reforms initiated by Ramos.