A Day After the Elections

I should probably give the ex-president’s son the benefit of the doubt. Besides, as I have said, he’s never really been a bad guy to me-- just not much of a doer (so far) to fit the role of a president, when you got other candidates who have done more. Especially if it’s an economically lagging and impoverished country like the Philippines, competent economic management is vital. I mean, investors have long fled and no one would currently want to even think of the Philippines as a good buy. I may then need to bank on this man's supposed clean character and hope that this would eventually push the Philippines to its full potential.

Well, well, well. The numbers have it, and there may be hope after all =).

The country’s main stock index, the PSEi,  rallied 3.9% in just a day, the highest day-to-day (DTD) yield that the country has had in close to two years. Just a few days before May 10, the PSEi was actually down, probably a sign of uncertainty over the success of the very first automated elections. The generally successful turnout of the historic computerized voting neverthelees boosted investor confidence. This is so far the most optimistic, after-election DTD yield on the PSEi, therefore ditching Gloria Arroyo and Joseph Estrada’s supposed credibility and high expectations from investors.

The Philippine peso also strengthened by 1.46% a day after the elections. The currency was even among the top ten strongest Asian currencies (ex-Japan) by the end of today's trading period. The appreciation came along with the already reported recovery of the country’s exports.





The Philippines, coming from almost a decade of administration marked by trailing global competitiveness due to high levels of perceived corruption, definitely spurs new set of investor hopes from the succesful election. I would like to think that the world has long abhored the Philipppines' consistently poor economic policies and management, along with rampant graft and corruption, therefore understating its gift of competitively able workforce and bountiful natural resources. 


The graph on the left shows the widely-used Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, a global civic society organization that leads the fight against corruption. The index generally indicates the perceived level of public-sector corruption of 180 countries. In the years of the Arroyo administration, which is actually the second longest-running presidential term (from 2001 to 2010), corruption has definitely worsened as perceived by the world economy. In Asia, the country trails second to Indonesia.

Anyway, if it's anything to be proud about, I want to be positive and think that the successful elections proved that the Philippines is willing to take on change, and  is actually clamoring for that change. I really hope that the change is now. This supposed man of integrity definitely has a lot to prove, and I am dying to see it.