Earning a return on returns you already earned, so growth accelerates the longer it runs. It is why time in the market is the one input a small investor fully controls: ₱10,000 growing 8% a year is about ₱21,600 after ten years and ₱100,000 after thirty, and almost all of that difference arrives in the final stretch. It works against you the same way through costs, since a fee taken every year compounds too.
See also
See every term in the full PSE investing glossary.