The Philippines in 1990: On Shaky Ground

Abstract

The year began with the Philippines still reeling from the nearly successful coup attempt in December 1989. As the Aquino government began to recover its footing, the country was jolted by a major earthquake, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and then battered by a super-typhoon. In the face of these and other serious problems, the country's political leadership seemed unable to identify and agree upon adequate solutions. As a result, 1990 ended with the Philippines facing its most serious economic crisis since 1983-85, and with many Filipinos questioning the ability of their elected leaders to cope with it. Many, but not all of the Philippines' troubles in 1990 were beyond the government's control. The country was wracked by almost every kind of natural disaster as well as by negative external developments such as the dramatic rise in world oil prices. These unfortunate occurrences were heaped on a nation still struggling to institutionalize democracy, restructure its inefficient and heavily indebted economy, and come to grips with its serious socioeconomic problems. But regrettably, a number of the country's problems were self-inflicted. Some were caused by inadequate or ineffective political leadership-not just in the executive branch but also in the Congress; others were attributable to the unwillingness of military rebels and their civilian supporters to respect the Constitution; still others were due to the serious underperformance of almost all branches and departments of the government;1 and finally, a number of the problems were caused by politically expedient but economically damaging policy deci-