CHICKENPIE.Fitch Ratings looked at the Philippines' books, looked at the energy sector, looked at the debt trajectory, and said what every tito at a family reunion has been saying for three years: baka kailangan mo nang mag-ipon.
The outlook got cut from stable to negative. First downgrade risk since 2005. The last time this happened, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was president. Nobody wants to be on that list — but here we are, watching another administration turn a potential credit downgrade into a spectator sport.
Here's what makes it art: the government response. "We are committed to fiscal consolidation," said the usual spokesperson, nodding with the confidence of someone who has never opened a power bill. The energy sector vulnerabilities Fitch flagged? Those are the same ones we've been reading about since brownouts became a personality trait in Mindanao.
And then there's the debt. The Philippines borrowed heavily during COVID like it was the last sale at Walmart. The interest payments alone are eating the budget like a carabao through a sugarcane field — slow, inevitable, and nobody seems to want to stop it.
But the real joke? The political class is still funding jeepney modernization programs with promises of modernization while the credit rating itself gets downgraded. You can't make this up. It's like getting a bad medical report and celebrating with a slab of lechon.
Fitch didn't break the news. They just put it in a font that makes the government uncomfortable.
Chester's take: If the credit rating goes down, does that mean our jeepneys get rated too? Because those things are already below investment grade.
