Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: Politics is the problem

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO swept to power as the Philippines’ president two years ago on a wave of middle-class protest against the corrupt incumbent Joseph Estrada. Many hoped her country would at last ditch the tag of Asia’s under-achiever. But today the promises to stamp out corruption, substantially increase tax revenues, rein in the ballooning budget deficit, restructure and privatize the woefully inefficient public sector and make life a little more bearable for the desperately poor remain unfulfilled.