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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/five-ph-presidents-sm.webp" alt="Philippines five presidents" />
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(Five Philippine Presidents)
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In that 30-year period, the country spent a whopping more than P31 trillion, accumulated by the five presidents at varying degrees, mostly in incremental national budgeting, from Cory Aquino, to Fidel V. Ramos, to Joseph Ejercito Estrada, to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and, finally, to BS Aquino.
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Thirty-one trillion pesos is 63.7 times bigger than the P486.42 billion officially spent by the Marcos regime in 20 years and, yet, by any stretch of imagination, including inflationary adjustments, Marcos had more to show in terms of tangible and intangible accomplishments in infrastructure and social amelioration than any of the presidents after him, or all of them combined.
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Divided by the Philippine population which is 100 million, the P31 trillion equals P310,000 for every man, woman and child in this country in today's currency rate.
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Sad to note, this huge amount of budgets, supposedly meant to spur economic growth, failed to alleviate poverty and, worse, the country remained dismally and shamelessly the economic laggard of the five original members that organized the ASEAN in Bangkok on August 8, 1967.
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The five are Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Except for the latter, the four are now considered the newly industrialized countries in the region. Brunei Darussalam joined the Asean on January  8, 1984; Vietnam on July 28, 1995; Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar on July 23, 1997; and Cambodia on April 30, 1999.
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The presidency of Rodrigo Duterte should bear in mind, as a stark reminder, the trial and error in governance; the economy that failed to employ its own people; the terrorism and insurgency that constantly threatened the country's stability; and the corruption and plunder of every size, make and brand that daily occupied the headlines.
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<b>Sources: Various</b>
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From Aquino to Aquino - the trial and error in governance of the past 30 years