Benigno S. Aquino III was officially proclaimed the next president of the Philippines on June 9, vowing to fulfill his campaign promise to fight corruption and to immediately determine the “true state of the country,” reports The New York Times. According to analysts, Aquino, who will become the 15th president of the republic on June 30, has to meet the expectations of Filipinos as early as he can, and can start by ensuring that fighting corruption remains on his agenda. One of the areas Aquino will be forced to confront in his first months in office is the country’s budget deficit of 293.2 billion pesos, or $6.3 billion, equivalent to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, and the high cost of basic commodities, which affects mostly the poor.
