For Vice President Sara Duterte, although it took time for many Filipinos to get a grasp of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA), she believes it was still “on point” and “perfect”.
Asked for her reactions during the post-SONA economic briefing held in Pasay City, Duterte expressed her utmost appreciation for the speech of Marcos.
“While I was going home, I was talking to one of our writers in my office and I told him I really like how the speech was written because I don’t write that way. I truly appreciated the form, the speech was composed,” she said on Tuesday, July 26.
“As Cabinet secretary and the other half of the Unity team, I would say that the State of the Nation Address of President Marcos was on point and perfect,” she stressed.
Duterte serves as the Education secretary in a concurrent capacity. She was the vice presidential running mate of Marcos in the May 9 national polls.
The tandem won by landslide after they got more than 30 million votes each, the biggest mandate so far in recent Philippine elections.
Duterte noted that many people were initially “overwhelmed with the numbers” because of the “economic part” of the Chief Executive’s first SONA.
In a 73-minute speech, Marcos delivered a “data-driven” SONA that laid out his plans tackling the government’s agenda on economic recovery, resumption of face-to-face classes, and health systems capacity-building, among others.
READ: PBBM’s first SONA: 73 minutes long, 90 rounds of applause
The President also mentioned the legislative priorities of his administration such as the National Government Rightsizing Program, the Budget Modernization Bill, Package 3 of the tax reform on real property valuation and assessment, and Package 4 of tax reform on passive income and financial intermediaries.
He also committed to tax administration reforms such as the Digital Economy VAT Law, the Ease of Paying Taxes Act, and reforms against possible undervaluation and misdeclaration of imported goods.