The President also showed decisiveness when, in June, she finally abolished the death penalty and announced an "all-out" war against communist rebels, vowing the insurgency would be wiped out in five years. Of course, if the rebels didn't cooperate, the process would probably take longer.

At any rate, government officials claim that the unpopular decisions have produced results: poverty was supposed to have been significantly reduced last year. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the good news to the poor, 30,000 of whom flocked to a live game show on February hoping to win cash prizes. The resulting stampede killed 73 people.

Also, according to the government GDP grew five per cent, which means that at some point, it might actually overtake the Journalist Assassination Rate (11 killed in 2006, compared to seven in 2005). Interestingly, last year saw murders branch out to other professions: a congressman was murdered as he left a church in Manila.

Of course, many might suspect the real reason for economic growth isn't government policy, but the billions of dollars remittances from abroad by Filipino overseas worker. In 2006, the official figure reached an all-time high – at least US$ 10 billion. Sustaining these remittances requires getting more people to fly out, and last year, the record number of one million Filipinos left to work abroad. It's a safe bet that the for many, the kind of government they have played a big role in their deciding to leave.

Those remittances will play a key role seeing the country through 2007, which in its two weeks has already seen three terrorist bombings. Add to this, the prospect of increasing military involvement in politics, a violent election in May, and yet more attempts to impeach President Arroyo, and you'll probably agree why any hard-bitten reporter who covered 2006 and now faces all of this will jump to one conclusion: "I need a vacation."