#Journeyto30 A pole vault into crisis

MANILA, Philippines – Since July 1986, The Philippine STAR’s pages have captured milestone after milestone in our country’s history – from dramatic and captivating news events to headlines that have had a major impact on our life as a nation. It stood as a journal of the Filipino story both in times of upheaval and achievement.

Beginning today and for the next 29 Sundays, we look back at some of these historical headlines from the past 30 years that dominated the front pages.

Jan. 3, 1997 throwback: The headline quotes former President Fidel Ramos in his annual report to the nation or Ulat sa Bayan at Malacañang the day before, heralding to Filipinos the economic and social progress ushered in by his administration.

Among the achievements Ramos touted in his speech was the economic growth the country experienced in 1996, as proven by the 7.1 percent gross national product growth that year, record-low inflation rates since 1992, declining unemployment rates and increase in exports.

Ramos noted that these achievements were the result of his administration’s efforts to establish peace and security through agreements with Moro rebels and intensified crime prevention and law enforcement.

“This past year, we could say we have crossed the threshold from the point of takeoff toward sustainable development,” Ramos said in his address, adding that the country had come to a point when it ceased to be the Sick Man of Asia, but rather loomed as Asia’s newest tiger economy.

This headline is crucial because that pronouncement would be turned upside down a few months later. By July of that year, the 1997 Asian financial crisis would affect the Philippines, raising interest rates, sending the peso plummeting from P26.00 to P46.50 versus the dollar, causing the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index to drop to 1,000 points from the previous 3,000, and contracting economic growth to a paltry three percent. It was a lesson on cautious optimism that we can use today, given our own economic achievements in recent years.