The Philippines, once dubbed as ‘Asia’s rising tiger’, should brace for a recession, Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said on Wednesday.

Drilon said the Philippine economy is facing a recession due to the expected contractions of the economy for the first two quarters, as it continues to struggle against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minority leader pointed out the country’s economy contracted by 0.2 percent during the first quarter and the second quarter forecast is even worse.

The senator said the next six months would be crucial in setting up the stage for economic recovery.

“This means that the next six months will be a question of how to survive. They say that to survive in today’s situation is already a success. We must be able to survive so that we can set the stage for economic recovery,” Drilon said in an interview over ANC Headstart.

Based on the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, about 20.9 percent or an estimated 5.2 million of Filipino families, experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months amid the pandemic, the highest hunger rate since September 2014, the lawmaker noted.

He also said it doesn’t help that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III lacks the credibility to be able to command people to do things: “He cannot influence decisions.”

“This coming SONA (State of the Nation Address) next week is one of the most important state of the nation addresses that people would be witness to. I would like to hear the President lay out a comprehensive plan that the people would be looking for and would be guided by, including us in the legislature,” Drilon stressed.

“There is no solution to this but we have to take the bull by the horn and have proposals that will guide us. Today we have none, unfortunately,” he said.

“The people would like some guidance from the President and they would like to see where we stand and where the government wants us to go,” the Senate minority chief emphasized.

The senator also reiterated that the opposition is willing to cooperate in providing solutions by way of policies to address the pandemic.

“I would emphasize that today we live in a crucial period. Being in the opposition is not easy, especially with the troll farms all over the place. But we are willing to cooperate and provide to the best of our abilities policies that we believe can help our country get out of this difficulty. But we hope that we are listened to also,” Drilon stressed.

He reiterated that currently, Filipinos are in need of food—not constitutional reforms—as the country grapples with the pandemic.

“There are five million Filipino families experiencing hunger for the past three months, is Cha-cha (Charter change) the solution?” Drilon said, pointing out that proposals calling for the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions can wait as the country deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.