Economy summit in 2000. Even with its strong economic team, the Estrada administration failed to capitalize on the gains of the previous administration. Estrada's administration was severely criticized for
cronyism,
incompetence, and
corruption, causing it to lose the confidence of
foreign investors. Foreign investors' confidence was further damaged when, in his second year, Estrada was accused of exerting influence in an investigation of a friend's involvement in
stock market manipulation. Social unrest brought about by numerous bombing threats, actual bombings, kidnappings, and other criminal activities contributed to the economy's troubles. Economic performance was also hurt by climatic disturbance that caused extremes of dry and wet weather. Toward the end of Estrada's administration, the fiscal deficit had doubled to more than 100 billion from a low of 49 billion in 1998. Despite such setbacks, the rate of
GNP in 1999 increased to 3.6 percent from 0.1 percent in 1998, and the
GDP posted a 3.2 percent growth rate, up from a low of −0.5 percent in 1998. Debt reached 2.1 trillion in 1999. Domestic debt amounted to 986.7 billion while foreign debt stood at US$52.2 billion. Unemployment increased from 10.3% in 1998 to 11.2% in 2000.
Endo contractualization and labor export became more prevalent while the minimum wage remained stagnant. Labor strikes during Estrada's presidency were dispersed violently.
Masa format on radio During his term, Estrada ordered to the
National Telecommunications Commission to adopt a
Filipino language-based radio format known as
masa. Named for his icon
Masa (or Masses), all radio stations adopted the
masa format since 1998, as
DJ's wanted to replace English language-based stations immediately to air
OPM songs and requests. After his term in 2001, several FM stations continued to adopt the
masa format nationwide.
Saguisag Commission To investigate the
alleged anomalies of the
Ramos administration, Estrada created the "Saguisag Commission" headed by former Senator
Rene Saguisag. Ramos, however, refused to appear before the commission, for he argued that the jurisdiction lies in the court. distributing more than of land to 175,000 landless farmers, including land owned by the traditional rural elite. (Total of 523,000 hectares to 305,000 farmers during his 2nd year as president). In September 1999, he issued Executive Order 151, also known as Farmer's Trust Fund, which allows the voluntary consolidation of small farm operation into medium and large scale integrated enterprise that can access long-term capital. Estrada launched the
Magkabalikat Para sa Kaunlarang Agraryo or MAGKASAKA. The
Department of Agrarian Reform forged into joint ventures with private investors into agrarian sector to make FBs competitive. In 1999, a huge fund was allocated to agricultural programs; one of these is the
Agrikulturang Maka Masa, through which it achieved an output growth of 6 percent, a record high at the time, kidnapping cases in the country. In November 2000, during the
Juetenggate scandal of Estrada, high officials of the PAOCTF–
Cezar Mancao,
Michael Ray Aquino, Glen Dumlao, and PAOCTF chief
Panfilo Lacson—were implicated in
the murder of
publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in
Cavite. His
execution induced once again a heated debate between the anti and the pro-death penalty forces in the Philippines with a huge majority of people calling for the execution of Echegaray. The Estrada
administration supported death penalty as the antidote to
crime.
Charter change Under Estrada, there was an attempt to change the 1987 constitution, through a process termed as CONCORD, or Constitutional Correction for Development. Unlike Charter change under presidents Ramos and Arroyo, the CONCORD proposal, according to its proponents, would only amend the 'restrictive' economic provisions of the constitution that is considered as impeding the entry of more foreign investments in the Philippines. There were objections from opposition politicians, religious sects and left wing organizations based on diverse arguments such as national patrimony and the proposed constitutional changes would be self-serving. Like his predecessor, Estrada's government was accused of pushing Charter change for their own vested interests.
War against the MILF soldier trains with an
M60 machine gun. During the Ramos administration a cessation of hostilities agreement was signed between the Philippine Government and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in July 1997. This was continued by a series of peace talks and negotiations in Estrada administration. However the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an Islamic group formed in 1977, seeks to be an independent Islamic State from the Philippines, and despite the agreements, a sequence of terrorist attacks against the military and civilians still continued. Because of this, on March 21, 2000, Estrada declared
an "all-out-war" against the MILF. During the war the
Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) asked Estrada to have a
cease-fire with MILF, but Estrada opposed the idea arguing that a
cease-fire would cause more terrorist attacks. For the next three months of the war,
Camp Abubakar, headquarters of the MILF, fell along with other 13 major camps and 43 minor camps, and then all of which became under controlled by the government. The MILF leader
Salamat Hashim fled the country and went to
Malaysia. The MILF later declared a
Jihad on the government. On July 10 of the same year, the President went to Mindanao and raised the Philippine flag symbolizing victory. After the war the President said, "... will speed up government efforts to bring genuine and lasting peace and development in Mindanao". In the middle of July the president ordered the military to arrest top MILF leaders. High on the list of priorities was the plight of MILF guerrillas who were tired of fighting and had no camps left to report to. On October 5, 2000, the first massive surrender of 669 MILF mujahideen led by the renegade vice mayor of Marugong, Lanao del Sur Malupandi Cosandi Sarip and seven other battalion commanders, surrendered to Estrada at the 4th ID headquarters in Camp Edilberto Evangelista in
Cagayan de Oro. They were followed shortly by a second batch of 855 surrenderees led by MILF Commander Sayben Ampaso on December 29, 2000. The war with the MILF was severely criticized by foreign and media observers. Agriculture Secretary
Edgardo Angara bridled at the high cost of Mindanao specifically the diversion of resources from military operations that eat away from the agriculture modernization program. Angara was quoted as saying "What General Reyes asks, he gets". Moreover, the fighting in Mindanao destroyed more than P135 million worth of crops and 12,000 hectares of rice and corn fields. ==Foreign policies==