It was all starting to look too good to be true for the Philippines. With a controversial yet vital increase in value-added tax all but approved, the senate's corruption-tainted pork barrel reduced by half and a highly successful start to the 2005 government debt funding campaign, people began to whisper the hitherto unspeakable. Asia's perennial underachiever, it seemed, might just manage to climb out of the financial hole that it has dug for itself.
The markets rewarded the efforts of president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her administration. Spreads on government debt tightened, the peso rose strongly and the stock market soared to levels not seen...
