The Philippines is now one of the world's best-performing economies: in the third quarter, it was the fastest growing economy in ASEAN and third in Asia after China and Mongolia. The Philippines' top economic managers say this is the best year for the Philippine economy. They say this growth is sustainable, and analysts agree - bringing great optimism for 2013.

Read more about the views of Filipino economic managers . Watch the view of CSIS' Ernest Bower and his outlook for 2013. In November, Gallup Poll said the Filipinos are the world's most emotional people. Take a look back at 2012 through Rappler's crowdsourced moods in "2012 in Moods."