World Economic Forum Global competitiveness ranking

We're ranked number 77.

Some of the Asian countries ranked higher than us includes: Taiwan #5, Singapore #6, Malaysia #24, Hong Kong #28, Thailand #36, Indonesia #74

From the Tribune:

The most telling of the indicators on Gloria's failure to guide the country to development is the ranking of countries in the world based on competitiveness culled yearly by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The ranking remains a yearly testimony on President Arroyo's ineffective management and that the strong republic she so readily proclaims is mere illusion.

The Philippines ranked 77th this year in the global competitiveness index from 76th last year and sadly trails most economies in the region which are climbing up the ladder.

The WEF cited, as was its reason last year, that the Philippines has slipped in the rankings due to corruption and weak governance.

When the rankings were released last year, Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye and others of the many mouthpieces of Gloria said the WEF did not consider reforms the Arroyo administration had undertaken for that year.

Well, we have the rankings this year and the WEF would have considered the supposed reforms that Bunye has been talking but that have still fallen short of the WEF criteria.

In fact, based on the rankings the country should be considered worse off this year than last.

The Philippines never tasted improvement in the competitiveness ranking under Gloria.

In 2003, the country was ranked 66th. In all, the Philippines has slipped some 20 notches under Gloria from the ranking around the 45-50 level during the term of then sitting President Joseph Estrada.

While the country lags under Gloria, other countries have been on a progressive climb up in the index.

The index ranked Taiwan 5th among the most competitive in the world; Singapore, 6th; Japan, 12th; South Korea, 17th; Malaysia, 24th; Thailand, 36th; India, 50th; and China, 49th.

The report noted instances of corruption, the lack of infrastructure, Gloria's weak government institutions, lag in tax collections, wasteful spending and high inflation as among the reasons for the progressive drop in the country's competitiveness over the years.

It would be insane for Gloria and her mouthpieces to cloud the integrity of the report through the art of incessant babbling, particularly Bunye's clown acts. The stock reasoning of the Palace that it is destructive politics that should be blamed for the incessant degradation of the country's image barely counts in the assessment of the WEF.

The criteria that the noted advisory firm use include the quality of the macro-economic environment; the state of a country's public institutions; and a country's technological readiness for the rankings. Nary a mention of the state of the political situation in the country was mentioned.

In the public institutions index of the same survey, the Philippines ranked worse at 104th from 99th place last year. This is where the instances of corruption, as perceived by more than 100 businessmen that deals with the country surveyed by WEF, come in.

That placed the Philippines as the 13th most corrupt or having the most inefficient government among 117 countries included in the survey, to put it in another perspective.

To put the country's performance in the index bluntly, Gloria is carrying the Philippines down the cliff.

If she is allowed to complete her term, that would be another five years, it would be easy to guess where the Philippines would be at in the WEF annual ranking.

With Gloria at the helm, the Philippines in all world indices assessing development follows a consistent trend-downward.

The cliché “only in the Philippines” will read better if changed into “only under Gloria.”