Camarines Sur 3rd district Rep. Gabriel Bordado Jr. (left) and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook, MANILA BULLETIN)

A Liberal Party (LP) congressman says President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should immediately address concerns on the Philippines' economic growth, agriculture sector, and education system in the second year of his term.

Camarines Sur 3rd district Rep. Gabriel Bordado Jr. noted that the country is still significantly behind its pre-pandemic level in terms of economic growth.

Bordado said that, in order to achieve sustainable recovery, Marcos administration must address key challenges such as high unemployment numbers, a forecasted high inflation rate of 5.1 percent in 2023, rising policy rates, import and export bottlenecks, and the weakening of the Philippine peso against the American dollar.

The Bicolano also stressed the urgency of truly improving the agriculture sector to ensure food security for Filipinos.

As the concurrent secretary of Department of Agriculture (DA), President Marcos himself  acknowledged that there is still much to be done in this area, noted Bordado.

Highlighting the World Food Program's report, which revealed that one out of 10 households in the Philippines does not have enough food, Bordado emphasized that those from the poorest regions are disproportionately affected.

He underscored the need to address factors such as high global commodity prices, currency depreciations, weather disturbances, and lower domestic production affecting food prices.

And then there's the alarming statistics from reports by PISA (2018) and the World Bank (2018-2019)over the high percentage of low achievers in reading, math, and science among Filipino students.

The LP stalwart called for immediate measures to address the high dropout rates, poor teacher quality, irrelevant learning materials, excessive centralization, and inadequate financial resources that continue to hinder the progress of Philippine education.

Bordado urged the Marcos administration to take decisive action on these critical issues to propel the nation towards a more stable and prosperous future. He stressed the importance of collaborative efforts among all stakeholders to address the challenges and uplift the lives of all Filipinos.

Marcos had just delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) wherein he reported to Filipinos the achievements of his first year in office.