Could the Philippines fall to the Pac Man?

It has been a gloomy year so far for the Philippines, a nation mired in corruption whose administration recently faced a mutiny by disaffected soldiers. But a recent court ruling against one of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos's closest allies may offer a glimmer of hope that this country can save itself after all.

IN THE HEADY days of the 1980s that ushered in the age of titanic takeovers, Wall Street’s finest devised a defence strategy to ward off unwanted advances from voracious bidders. The Pac Man Defence took its name from the video arcade game that featured an insatiable pizza-shaped blob that roamed the screen devouring all in its path. Often used as a last-ditch effort to save a company from a raider, the Pac Man Defence entailed the victim turning on the assailant to acquire it instead.

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