Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, January 24 expressed hope that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would find more time to priotize addressing the country’s domestic issues this year, 2023.

Hontiveros made the suggestion as she weighs in on the President’s frequent trips abroad to meet world leaders and to attend international economic meetings as part of the Marcos administration’s efforts to boost the country’s foreign direct investments.

“There are always possible benefits hindi ko naman yung tatawaran yun sa kaninumang President pero numerically kasi medyo parang sobra (I'm not one to offer that to any President, but numerically it seems a bit too much),” Hontiveros said in an interview on ANC Headstart.

“In 7 months, eight (8) trips, samantalang nasusunog tayo sa mga domestic issues lalo na domestic economic issues people want to feel that our leader is in the house (In 7 months, 8 trips, while we are burning with domestic issues especially domestic economic issues people want to feel that our leader is in the house),” the senator further said.

“Gustong maramdaman, gustong makita at gustong maramdaman ang leadership at effective leadership lalo sa mga isyu na umaaray ang mga tao (People want to feel, want to see and want to feel leadership and effective leadership especially in issues that people are struggling with),” she said.

Hontiveros said the President having more than one trip per month is a bit disproportionate espcially when people are dealing with the various economic issues “not only every week but every day.”

“That's what I can say I don't think it was a good thing to do to be seen as doing in the first months,” she said.

“So if he's traveling again in November then hopefully in the interim, 8 or 9 months, eh mas maramdaman yung leadership na hinihintay talaga (people will feel the leadership they have been waiting) especially on these painful issues,” Hontiveros pointed out.

In a recent interview, Marcos vowed to have fewer trips for 2023.

“We will lessen our trips for the rest of the year. The reason is that we have to review what we started in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) — in APEC, in China, and our trips to the EU, in Brussels. And then there’s this trip to Davos,” Marcos said.

“We need to detail what we talked about. Who did we talk to and what was the topic? In all of the projects we talked about, what should we prioritize?” the President had also said.

According to the President, the only trip confirmed for this year would be his attendance in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in November that would be held in the United States.