An upgrade of its investor’s rating but a downgrade from a Democracy watchdog and its aviation quality, an example of the saying “One step forward, two steps backward.”
Moody’s, an international corporation which performs financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities upgraded the Philippines’ investor’s rating. As the country’s economy expands. On the other hand, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the US, has downgraded our aviation quality from Category 1 to 2. When it first conducted an inspection on our aviation facilities in 1995 it rated us Category 2 but later upgraded it to Category 1 after then President Fidel Ramos promised to spend millions to meet their standards. Having Category 1 rating gives a country unlimited access to the US. Just a couple of months ago we were downgraded and again we are in Category 2, the same league as Bangladesh and Kenya.
Another step backward was when an international democracy watchdog downgraded us from “Free” to only “Partly Free” following the extra-judicial killings and the unexplained killings of journalists and activists which also gave us the name, “The Second Most Dangerous Place for Journalists only after Iraq”. And “Elections as violent as Afghanistan”, what a shame.
The government thrives so hard to do reforms to improve the economy and to finally get the country to move forward. But with a pace of one step forward, two steps backward let’s not expect to reach the finish line soon.
LOUIE ENCABO.com 