Philippine politics - a mirror of ours, with corruption to match?

I was cynically amused to come across this article about politics in the Philippines.  Given that "poly" means "many" and a tick is a blood-sucking creature, it looks as if politicians there may well be described as many blood-sucking critters - not dissimilar to ours.  Here's a brief excerpt.

Every nation has its unfair share of dickheads, douchebags, dingleberries and degenerates. But my country, the Philippines, bests most in democratic tomfoolery. My entire life, a panoply of perfidious politicians have reigned, inheriting or bequeathing unchallengeable dynasties. Congress, Senate, governorships, mayoralties and even the presidency are but a game of musical chairs (which function, yes, like thrones).

. . .

... presidents and their pundits will always declare that things are improving. On the face of it, they’re not lying. The Philippines is no longer the sick man of Asia. Our middle class is expanding. Our workers are prized all over the world. The country is politically stable compared to our neighbours. The administration of our current president, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, has cracked down on corruption, most notably on a scandalous pork-barrel scam implicating a dozen powerful senators and more than a score of congressmen. And, best of all, the Philippine economy is booming.

But the same families maintain a stranglehold on power while the gap between rich and poor widens. Monopolies, nepotism, tax evasion, protectionism, erratic regulation (too little where it’s needed, too much where it’s not) and personal relationships between business and policy makers continue to bloat the wealth of the political and non-political elite alike.

There's more at the link.  I highly recommend reading the whole article.

The above description sounds remarkably like the US political "establishment" that I described a few weeks ago.  Corruption in the Philippines may be more open than here in the USA, but I can't believe that our body politic, on the whole, is any less corrupt than theirs.

Peter