Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. (Screenshot from Facebook)
Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. delivered a "State of the Nation Address (SONA)" on Facebook Monday, July 24, a few hours before President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. delivered the official SONA at Batasan Complex, Quezon City. Unsurprisingly, Teves spent the better part of 10 minutes in his video message slagging the Marcos administration for its supposed missteps during its first year. The controversial solon remains suspended by the House of Representatives on account of "disorderly behavior". Out of the 312 House members, only Teves wasn't sent an invitation for the SONA. “Why is it that the prices of rice continuously increase? Where did the P20 a kilo go? Teves asked, aluding to Marcos' campaign promise of lowering the cost of rice to P20 a kilo. The Visayan then raised the issue of the Philippines' national debt amounting to P14.1 trillion. "Meaning, each Filipino, including a new born child already has a P113,000 debt,” he said. Teves also found fault with the administration's pursuit of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), or the country’s first sovereign wealth fund. “Why create the Maharlika Investment Fund wherein the country is sinking in trillions of debt?” he further said. “These are some of my observations I would like to share with the Filipino people, which I think it’s the real SONA," he boldly claimed. Believed to be out of the country, Teves is the alleged mastermind in the broad-daylight assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo last March 4.