Despite a long tradition of democratic government and serious efforts at market-oriented economic reform, the Philippines remains plagued by poverty, corruption, crime, and insurgency. This stagnant situation is perpetuated by the traditional exemption of the ruling class from the rule of law, which has excluded the unresponsive and inefficient governing elite from the electoral and economic competition that could force meaningful reform. The persistent inability of Philippine Governments to bring the elite within the rule of law is a pervasive obstacle to progress that can only be removed by focused, sustained political pressure from the Filipino people.