Two sides of the Philippines

The Philippines is now experiencing a prelude to what many say as an economic boom. We are now at the Top 6 of the ASEAN big economies. Once again we have over taken our neighbor Vietnam. IMF forecast that the Philippines will be gaining 7.5 growth in its GDP. Goldman and Sachs also forecast that the Philippines will be a 1st class nation within the turn of the decade. These are the same firms that forecast that China will rival the US economy by 2010 and guess what, they are right.

The country apparently is showing the right conditions for growth as domestic market grows and the government starting to root out corruption by targeting the big fish, those who bag millions of our taxes for their own luxury. Condominiums and new malls seems to be popping up like mushrooms in big cities. Development in the provinces are really taking shape. The dollar is now going down as the Peso gains a stronger value.

All in all the future looks bright recently a spur of patriotism has emerged in peoples hearts. People in the Philippines are now starting to believe that progress may not be just a dream.

Like many other Asian countries growth does not really mean equality. Middle class living in the country is now the trend. But let us not forget that there are still people dying of hunger in our country. Many are still being denied justice simply because they are poor or having no education

These are people who live in the fringes of society, those places not listed on tourist brochures. Majority of Filipinos still live in poverty. Philippines is country of extremes where the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor can live only meters from one another. As our country continue to its road of progress I hope it can help a lot of our poor families break away from the cycle of poverty.