It is history coming full circle.
Thirty-six years after his family was expelled from Malacañang following the first People Power Revolution, the Marcoses are back in power after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. won by a landslide in the May 2022 polls.
Six months after Marcos’ campaign for unity bore fruit, the Office of the President (OP) laid down what the new administration has achieved thus far.
In a social media update, the OP said the Marcos administration demonstrated "unified action and steadfast commitment in bringing back the glory days of the Philippines as a rising star of Asia" despite the ongoing health crisis.
Under his watch, the OP said Marcos "led the government to take immediate action" in addressing various issues, such as addressing poverty incidence, food security, building a better healthcare system, and promoting economic transformation.
Economy
President Marcos was able to secure a total of $23.6 billion in investment pledges from his six foreign trips this year. Marcos went on successive State Visits to Indonesia and Singapore in September. This was also the first trip of a Philippine president abroad after countries closed their borders in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The country's employment rate picked up to 95.5 percent or 47.11 million in October 2022, and the unemployment rate slid to the pre-pandemic level at 4.5 percent or 2.24 million Filipinos.
Meanwhile, the country's budget deficit, as of November 2022, went down by 3.71 percent of almost P5 billion.
Revenue collection was recorded at P331.1 billion, or up by 16.6 percent. The year-to-date collection was at P3.3 trillion, or up by 18.1 percent. The cumulative deficit went down by 7.2 percent or P96.3 billion.
Housing
This year, the Marcos administration launched the “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (National Housing for the Filipino)” housing project. So far, the national government has signed 43 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with local government units (LGUs) with over 200,000 housing units committed over the past four months.
Food Security and Agriculture
Food security is one of Marcos' priorities. As the head of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Marcos led the distribution of the following:
- P975 million worth of fertilizer discount vouchers to 413 rice farmers
- P270.6 million worth of fuel subsidy
- 1.1 million bags of seeds and 864 pieces of machinery to rice farmers
President Marcos approved enhanced access to loans:
- P172 million worth of loan grants to 13,366 borrowers
- P2.6-billion financial assistance and P345-million loan grants to farmers
- P375 million worth of loans were provided to 2,756 small farmers and fisherfolk, and 55 small businesses
When it came to strengthening the value chain, the Marcos administration launched the “Kadiwa ng Pasko” caravan, which sought to sell commodities to the public at lower prices. So far, over 350 Kadiwa sites have been established where rice has been sold for as cheap as P25-per-kilo.
Under his watch, 34 farm-to-market roads worth P368 million were built. This covers a total of 23.72 kilometers.
Marcos likewise signed Executive Order No. 4 or the moratorium on land amortization and interest payments of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
Since he assumed office, 19,199 certificates of land ownership have been distributed to ARBs.
Digitalization
President Marcos has been promoting digitalization since he assumed office. Since July, 4,757 live sites have been activated across the country through the Broadband ng Masa program.
To promote security amid his quest for digitalization, Marcos signed Republic Act No. 11934, or the SIM Registration Act, in October. This requires every Filipino and foreigner in the Philippines to register their SIM cards with their service provider.
Health and economy
As the country slowly recovers from the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Marcos administration allowed the voluntary wearing of face masks through Executive Order No. 7.
To promote ease of travel, the administration launched the e-Arrival card. This aimed to promote easier and faster completion of the traveler registration process.
President Marcos likewise approved the following:
- Disbursement of P12.15 billion in Covid-19 emergency allowance to healthcare workers
- Release of P9.62 billion in special risk allowance
- Release of 1.91 billion in sickness and death compensation