Philippines' Aquino insists successor's reforms key to resurgence

President Benigno Aquino urged the Philippines on Monday to elect a new leader with the zeal to pursue reforms which he said had led to high growth in a country impoverished by rampant corruption. In his last annual address to parliament, Aquino said his high-profile anti-corruption campaign led to a more business-friendly Philippines, creating more jobs that ushered in 6.2 percent average annual economic growth in the past five years. "If the transformation is not cut short, this will just be the beginning. What we're saying is, you ain't seen nothing yet," Aquino said. Aquino, who is constitutionally limited to a single six-year term, described the May 2016 presidential election as a "referendum on our Straight Path". The term refers to an anti-graft campaign that saw his predecessor Gloria Arroyo and three opposition senators thrown in jail and put on trial for alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds. Despite his success in his pro-reform agenda that has seen the Philippines earn investment-grade status for the first time, Aquino is struggling to endorse a successor to follow them through, analysts said. The state of the nation address was attended by three of the presumed leading contenders -- Vice President Jejomar Binay and Aquino allies Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Senator Grace Poe. Aides said Aquino was set to endorse a preferred candidate later this week. They said he was torn between the popular Poe and Roxas, who lost to Binay in the vice presidential race in 2010 after giving up his own presidential campaign to clear the way for Aquino. Aquino on Monday singled out Roxas for praise as a man of "mettle and integrity", in a possible indication of his choice. As he spoke, dozens of rain-drenched activists armed with bamboo poles that held their protest banners attacked shield-bearing policemen who stopped them marching on parliament. They burned a giant effigy of Aquino on top of a train, saying his failure to fix the capital's creaking rail system symbolised his failure to improve the lives of the poor. Aquino also asked parliament to pass key reform legislation during his remaining 11 months in office. These include a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule in the violence-racked south of the mainly Catholic nation, ending a revolt that has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives since the 1970s. The bill has stalled in parliament amid public outrage over the January deaths of 44 police commandos in a clash with Islamic rebels, including those from the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front which is engaged in the peace talks.