(May 20, 2005) Corruption in the Philippines is so pervasive that, according to experts, it now requires an outsider with a formidable background and, perhaps, no known local roots to deal with it.

(May 12, 2005) The European Union has called for “zero tolerance” toward corruption at all levels of Philippine society and “ruthless” application of the law to everyone during the launching of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Corruption Prevention Project.

(May 11, 2005) Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Thursday said she needed three years to win the war against corruption in her country, which she likened to a deadly cancer that the Philippines must immediately cure.

(April 18, 2005) It is highly doubtful the Philippines – or other Asian governments – will pull an Argentina anytime soon, yet Asia may have to work hard to avoid the temptation.

(August 29, 2005) For every second we breathe, the amount we spend for debt service is equivalent to the amount of salary a common wage earner receives in three months because of the government’s refusal to change its borrowing and debt payments policies.

(March 29, 2005) Condor’s forecast is based on an unfair and inaccurate comparison between Argentina and the Philippines.

(March 10, 2005) Senators and congress­men in the Philippines have denounced the World Bank for trying to impose its will on the nation’s Congress.

(March 7, 2005) Argentina had been painfully slow to restructure its debts. Because it held off deciding to default for so long, the decision – when it finally came – hit the country hard.

(March 4, 2005) A Filipino senator this week suggested the government look at Argentina’s model of debt default as one of a number of ways to ease the country’s ballooning national debt of P3.36 trillion ($60 billion).

(March 4, 2005) Two lawmakers called on the Philippine government to ease borrowing from other countries and mortgage banks to address the country’s P3.81-trillion debt.

(March 3, 2005) The chairman of the Philippine Senate committee on finance has proposed the creation of a “council for debt relief” to tackle plans to lower the government’s outstanding debt of P3.36 trillion.

(March 2, 2005) “Unless another large capital loss is appealing, investors should consider Argentina’s default as an example of what can happen in other emerging-market countries, and not as an isolated and resolved event.”

(March 2, 2005) A press statement issued by the Philippines Malacañan Palace claims the government can manage the country’s ballooning national debt.

(February 27, 2005) He says this is the solution to the country’s huge loans.

(February 25, 2005) The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan yesterday lamented that almost two decades after the first People Power uprising drove the strongman Ferdinand Marcos out of Malacañang, Filipinos continued to suffer for his “sins.”