Over the past three years the Philippines have had one of the most robust economies in the world.
That's the good news.
The not so good news is that virtually none of that robust growth has benefited the poor and the working classes in the country. Instead, the bonanza has been almost exclusively for the benefit of the country's one percent.
For the regular folks, not much has changed since the days of Ferdinand and Imelda. Leaders come and leaders go, election cycles come and go, but the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.
It doesn't have to be that way. The country has a long tradition of leftist activism. Unfortunately the parties of the left have spent far more energy fighting amongst themselves. There remains an extreme fringe around the Communist Party which is committed to armed struggle.
In this age and that context, that's a quixotic venture doomed to failure. What the 99% need to do is use the tools of peaceful resistance and the ballot box.
Communist movements across Europe have long abandoned armed struggle and been absorbed into the mainstream political process. While that's seen as "selling out" in more extreme circles, it's also the reason why capitalism is more thoroughly regulated in western Europe than anywhere else.
The result? Some of the most prosperous societies in the world with the smallest gaps between rich and poor.
If that can happen in France and Germany it can happen in the Philippines too.
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