President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Noel Pabalate/MANILA BULLETIN)

Taguig City 2nd district Rep. Amparo Maria "Pammy" Zamora believed that President Marcos had his bashers in mind when he reported on Labor Day the P1.7-trillion worth of investments that the country amassed in 2023 alone. 

"I think sinabi to ng Presidente kasi napakaraming pumupuna pagka-bumabyahe siya (I think the President said this because a lot a people criticize him whenever he goes on a trip)," Zamora, an assistant majority leader, said in a press conference Thursday, May 2. 

"Siguro isang paraan ito ng Presidente para ipamukha sa kanyang mga bashers na ito ang produkto ng kanyang pagba-byahe," said the "Young Guns" bloc member. 

(Maybe this is one way for the President to tell his bashers that this is the product of his trips.) 

During Wednesday's Labor Day celebration, Marcos said in his speech, "In 2023 alone, our investment promotion agencies approved almost P1.7 trillion in investment in various sectors. These investments are expected to create almost 108,000 jobs for our people in that year." 

P1.7 trillion is roughly a third of this year's entire national budget of P5.768 trillion. 

"Napakaraming tao na kada biyahe niya, binibilangan siya kung ilan na ba yung byahe na foreign trips, kung ilang beses na ba siya lumabas, sinong ang kasama niya," Zamora said of the Chief Executive.  

(A lot of people keep tabs on how many foreign trips he's had, the people he was with. 

"Pero kita naman natin sa innanounce niya na almost P1.7 trillion in investments and inani natin...Nagtatrabaho talaga ang ating pamahalaan," she noted. 

(But we saw from his announcement that we have attained P1.7 trillion in investments...Our government is really hard at work.)