The Philippines is one of the most resilient, if not the most resilient, country in Asia.
Despite the ongoing political crisis whose impact is spilling into the economy, the Philippines will remain one of the fastest growing economies in the region, with GDP growth straddling between 5.5 and 6.0 percent, if not higher.
Frederick Go, the presidential adviser for investment and economic affairs, is right. There is no capital flight. Investors remain keen on the Philippines. Consumers, while shocked at the recent turn of events, are still in the buying mood. Household consumption, up to 70 percent of GDP, will keep its steady pace.
I say this as a journalist of 55 years. In more than half a century, from 1970 to the present, I have covered three People Power revolutions, 14 coup attempts and seven presidents – eight, if you include my years as a campus journalist since high school. I have covered several recessions and spurts of economic prosperity.
I was editor-in-chief of our high school paper, a tabloid and managing editor of our university paper, The Varsitarian, which I made into a weekly tabloid, plus a monthly magazine.
During all the political convulsions and economic milestones, one verity stood out – the Philippines is a very strong and resilient country, robust in natural resources and in the strength of its people, and impervious to the blandishments of defeat and demoralization, here and abroad.
HFCE – Household Final Consumption Expenditure (what a fancy name, PSA) – recorded a year-on-year growth of 5.5 percent in the second quarter of 2025, higher than the 4.8 percent posted in the same quarter the previous year.
The top five contributors to the HFCE year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2025 were food and non-alcoholic beverages, 5.7 percent; transport, 11.2 percent; miscellaneous goods and services, 4.3 percent; education, 9.7 percent, and restaurants and hotels, 7.4 percent. Conversely, only alcoholic beverages and tobacco posted a decline in the said period with 1.5 percent.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to account for the largest share of household consumption at 36.6 percent. This was followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 14.9 percent and miscellaneous goods and services at 13.4 percent.
I have covered the two Macapagal presidencies – Diosdado Macapagal and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; two Aquino presidencies, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III; two Marcos presidencies, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr. and Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., along with the presidencies of Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
The three People Power events I covered: 1) Feb. 22-25, 1986 that installed Corazon Aquino as president; 2) Jan. 20, 2001 that installed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as president and 3) May 1, 2001 that failed to restore Joseph Ejercito Estrada as president.
I have covered at least 14 coup attempts. The first one was under Ferdinand Edralin Marcos in 1986, which was successful as it ended his 20-year reign.
Next were a record nine coup attempts against President Cory Aquino, which all failed but they left Cory politically bloodied – but unbowed. Two were the bloodiest in Philippine history – the Aug. 28, 1987 putsch that left 53 dead, and the December 1989 military revolt where a military assassin hesitated to shoot Cory Aquino inside the palace after remembering her successor could be worse. Does that sound familiar in today’s milieu?
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo manfully handled three coup attempts – the EDSA III of May 1, 2001, the 2003 Oakwood Munity and the Peninsula Siege of 2007. President Arroyo learned one lesson in surviving the three coup attempts. At the first sign of rebellion, be decisive. Do not hesitate to shoot the coup plotters and their followers.
Some claim there has been a fourth People Power, the Trillion Peso People’s March on Sept. 21, 2025, the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law by Marcos Sr.
I do not count the Sept. 21, 2025 gathering, while massive, as a People Power. It did not seek the ouster of the sitting president. It merely let off people’s rage against the largest act of corruption by government people – the P1-trillion flood control scam or flood-gate.
The P1-trillion syndicated symphony of stealing (SSS) was exposed by the sitting president himself, Marcos Jr., the first leader in world history to be a whistleblower.
So if you ask me – will the Philippines survive the current political chaos? Of course.
President Marcos Jr. will finish his term until June 30, 2028. He will be able to handpick his successor. He will be considered a revolutionary president. His reign will be marked by unprecedented digitalization and financial inclusion, an unprecedented single digit unemployment and an unprecedented upper middle class status of Filipinos.
If people haven’t noticed, BBM actually staged a coup against himself in exposing the P1-trillion flood-gate in his State of the Nation Address.
Making public the scandal enables BBM to tackle and write finis to the careers of his political enemies, real or imagined.
New Ombudsman Boying Remulla will pursue the P612-million malversation case against Vice President Sara Duterte, resulting in her ouster, in case of conviction.
If the Comelec pursues its illegal donation of P30 million (from a government contractor) against Sen. Francis Escudero, Chiz will be ousted as a senator. Some senators will survive the ICI investigation and ombudsman prosecution but they will carry with them the stigma of corruption – a badge of absolute eternal disgrace and political doom.
Ferdinand Martin Romualdez won’t probably return as speaker of the House. Congressman-contractor Zaldy Co will lose three things – his political power, his freedom, his wealth.
At least five corrupt engineers of the DPWH will go to jail. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon will make sure of that. A number of DPWH contractors will go to jail. Dizon will make sure of that.