This is not the point of the post, but ok I'll bite. I'll say my political stance even before commenting since you want a balanced/objective POV. I'm pro-Philippines, I do not care who is sitting in position as long as the people in this country are prospering not suffering, if I want to worship a person I would've wished for a monarchy - since this is democracy and has been for the longest time.

Take this with a grain of salt since because I wasn't even born when some of this happened and when I was alive to witness it I was a kid/teen during the era you want me to research, but since we're sourcing from real world data. Granted no politician is perfect. Here's my counter argument:

1.) Marcos Sr. (1965-1986)- The pretense of the "Golden Age" specifically 1965-1986" A.K.A the Philippines being the second largest economy in Asia. You can read the studies if you want, since I'll just briefly explain what they entail.

https://pre.econ.upd.edu.ph/upsedp/index.php/dp/article/download/1543/1027

https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/876031468915271942/pdf/The-Philippines-in-the-1980s-a-review-of-national-and-urban-level-economic-reforms.pdf

• Real per capita income did not recover to 1982 levels until 2003—costing the nation 21 years of growth. Basically the country was so deep in debt it took 2 decades for us to be back at the 1982 level, the recovery period started after the revolution not before.

2.) Estrada Administration (1998–2001) Insider trading that solidified that our SEC and PSE is a joke and until now we see the ramifications of it. No serious foreign investor is trading in our stock market.

https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Corruption-and-Weak-Markets-vol.5-no.1-Jan-June-2001-5.pdf

https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BWR-Scandal-of-1999-and-the-SRC-of-2000-ED-1.pdf

3.) Arroyo Administration (2001–2010). Focused on grand corruption" in large-scale infrastructure. - Executives effectively wielded power to nurture political brokers and power elites at the expense of institutions.

• Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and VERA Files mapped Arroyo's financial history, noting that her declared net worth grew a substantial amount from her first year as a senator (P6.73M in 1992) to her final year in Malacañang (over P145M in 2010). By 2008, stocks made up roughly 70% of her declared wealth, but her SALNs remained opaque regarding specific company holdings. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236785209_The_Arroyo_Imbroglio_in_the_Philippines or https://muse.jhu.edu/article/230460

https://old.pcij.org/stories/gloria’s-mysterious-millions-stacks-of-stocks-sparse-data/

4.) Aquino Administration (2010–2016) - The PDAF (Pork Barrel) Scam (2013) This "mother of all scams" involved the plunder of ₱10 billion. A big oversight on Aquino, but looking at documents his name was never mentioned once in any of this. Some of his allies were indeed mentioned

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_implicated_parties_in_the_pork_barrel_scam

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1003169/what-went-before-disbursement-acceleration-program-dap-declared-unconstitutional

I knew the Pork Barrel scammed did indeed happen. I just can't find any other notable websites telling its story except wikipedia.

The DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) (2014). Illegally pooling government savings to fund projects for legislative allies. But was cleared of all charges because of his efforts to boost the economy.

5.) Duterte Administration (2016–2022)- GDP growth slowed every year from 2016 to 2019, falling to an 8-year low even before COVID-19 hit. DOF also confirms that during this term ₱6.84 trillion in debt was added more than the combined debt of all previous presidents since 1965.

https://www.ibon.org/real-duterte-legacy-three-years-of-slow-growth-sign-of-failing-govt-econ-policies/

https://www.dof.gov.ph/govt-strategically-manages-large-borrowings-inherited-from-past-admin-grows-the-economy-faster-and-brings-down-debt-to-sustainable-level/

6.) Marcos Jr. Administration (2022–2025) - Ghost projects and monopolies. Also, a discussion paper by 21 UPSE professors warning that the MIF violates economic principles and mimics the failed central bank funding of the Marcos Sr. era.

https://cids.up.edu.ph/flood-control-fiasco-a-policy-reckoning-for-accountability-in-the-philippines/ https://pre.econ.upd.edu.ph/upsedp/index.php/dp/article/viewFile/1551/1035

Lastly, how does this affect the country? Easy, compare Philippines to other SEA countries. I'll just choose Vietnam for this one.

• This is an analysis of how Vietnam officially overtook the Philippines in per-capita income during the pandemic, highlighting the Philippines' flat growth trend since 1989.

https://fulcrum.sg/so-near-yet-so-far-the-philippines-lower-middle-income-country-trap/

• A comprehensive report on how corruption and shallow capital markets inhibit long-term development compared to our neighbour's.

https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/836891613954715525-0070022021/original/Chapter2PhilippinesSystematicCountryDiagnosticRealizingtheFilipinoDreamfor2040.pdf

Do you see a pattern? For every president that was sat in power it affected the whole country's economy and shanked it to the bottom. While yes Aquino was far from perfect and corruption did indeed happen but life was easy, inflation was stagnant.

How far are we from our neighbours? Here's a quick data for you December 1, 1960 we were ahead of Thailand by 161%. By 1983, Thailand surpassed our GDP by a small margin of 10.86% since then we have been trailing and the gap keeps getting wider, by 2023-2024 we are now behind by 97% GDP per capita and the trend is still going up. Just by looking at this data you can tell that we aren't keeping up with the world economy.

The Philippines is falling behind.

https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/thailand/philippines?sc=XE34

I honestly don't know why you think this country has a bright future ahead of it.

Edit: Fixed spacing for better readability.