Cebu 5th district Rep. Vincent Franco "Duke" Frasco (left), and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook, Speaker's office)


Saying he had to overcome "greater" challenges as president, Cebu 5th district Rep. Vincent Franco "Duke" Frasco gave Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos an "excellent" mark for the latter's performance during his first year in office. "I would like to give our honorable President BBM (Bongbong Marcos) the highest rating of EXCELLENT," Frasco said in message on Friday, June 30, on first year anniversary of Marcos' assumption of the Palace seat. Frasco, a House deputy speaker, said that Marcos "has done an outstanding job during his first year in the office". "Having transitioned into a new administration after more than two years of surviving a global pandemic, the responsibilities bestowed upon the President were greater and far more difficult," he noted. Frasco said the Marcos administration took off when the country was "still trying to rebuild itself from the recent adversity it had faced", again referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. Marcos, he said, then focused on delivering his 10-point agenda for “economic renewal and long-term growth, restoring prosperity for all". "A year of introducing reforms and initiatives and laying out plans and policies that cut across all sectors, evidently, PBBM is on track with his administration’s priorities: national reopening, public-private partnership, infrastructure development, fiscal discipline, transparent and efficient governance, digitalization, energy security, education, healthcare, and food for all," said the House leader. He claimed that the Marcos administration has so far been able to "implement plans, policies, and programs that steered the country towards economic recovery and social growth". "These include, among others, the crafting of comprehensive eight-point socio-economic agenda to set direction for the economy’s full speed recovery, adoption of Medium-Term Fiscal Framework to ensure a sound fiscal management, tax administration reforms, realignment of expenditure priorities, promotion of productivity-enhancing investments, increased engagement of private sectors and promotion of Private-Public Partnership projects, expanding the infrastructure program with the aspiration to 'Build, Better, More', [and] efforts on digitalization and connectivity," he said. Frasco also cited the Marcos government’s measures "in addressing immediate and pressing concerns on energy-consumption, improving the quality of education, and uplifting the lives of Filipinos by providing them the necessary and adequate social services and healthcare". "As observed during its first year, PBBM’s accomplishments reflected multi-sectoral development towards holistic growth of the country," he further said. The congressman is the husband of Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Frasco.