I must congratulate Dr. Montojo for his research. For policy makers with research staff that can go through the technical elements of the work, this work should be of great interest. It presents the complexities of policy making and above all of policy implementation in an environment where there are multiple players with multiple interests of their own.

This work should prove very helpful to those who believe that economic reform, no matter how long it takes, is well worth the effort needed to pursue it over the long term, because in the end that is how the common good is served and promoted. Furthermore, economic reform becomes harder in situations where institutions are weak and are lacking of vision and a long-term strategy to contribute to the transformation of an economy in process of development. Finally, difficult as the eventual removal of the OPSF and a government-influenced pricing policy for oil may have been, still through forging alliances between domestic and international reform advocates, the Philippine case shows that it can be done. This represents one thorn removed out of the flesh of actual economic policy being implemented in the Philippines.

I recommend this book for close reading by research analysts, who can help guide economic policy-makers and practitioners on lessons that can be gleaned from experiences such as the ones that Dr. Montojo has analylzed with great care and rigor.