The Philippines' thriving democracy has received laurels from the United Nations' just-released Human Development Report for 2002, but impatience is growing internally over the country's economic woes and what often seems like an overdose of partisan politics.

So, while Manila was chosen as the site for the global launch of the UN report Wednesday  it must go beyond contestation of powers,'' said Fukuda-Parr.

This is a challenge, since "the Philippines is one of the finest examples of how individual people are committed to democracy," she said, citing the 'People Power II' uprising against Estrada. — IPS