At his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. elicited 125 rounds of applause and two standing ovations. The entire audience stood up first when he declared anew that the West Philippine Sea is ours, then thanked the armed forces who have steadfastly asserted the country’s territorial rights. Then, he was greeted anew with resounding approval when he announced his order banning the operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country.
Throughout the 82-minute speech, the Chief Executive gave the nation an eyeball of his administration’s priority concerns in all vital areas of governance.
He began by focusing on the high price of rice, stating that this was a top-of-mind concern of millions of impoverished Filipinos in the countryside — and declaring that this rendered meaningless claims that the country was among the best-performing in Asia in terms of annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP).
Hence, he said, an integrated approach to boost agricultural and fisheries production has been adopted; this covers the entire cycle of planting, harvesting, storage, transportation and selling. Moreover, the tariff on rice has been reduced to facilitate imports that will cover the local production shortfall — even as law enforcement agencies crack down on those engaged in hoarding, smuggling and price manipulation. He also underlined that local government units have been restrained from collecting toll fees and imposing charges that bloat the cost of doing business.
The completion of three massive projects — Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation in North Cotabato and Maguindanao, Cabaruan solar-powered irrigation in Isabela, and the Jalaur River multi-purpose dam in Iloilo — showcase the administration’s infrastructure initiatives. These include the upgrading of 367 bridges and more than 1,600 kilometers of the Maharlika Highway from Luzon to Mindanao; the completion of C-LEX, NLEX-SLEX Connector, the CALAX, and the C5 South Link, as well as the Plaridel Bypass; the Inter-Island Linkage Bridge Program; and a “railway renaissance” that includes the Metro Manila subway project, MRT-7, the North-South Commuter Railway, and the LRT Line 1 Cavite extension project. The institutionalization of the Private-Private Partnership is highlighted by the modernization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s premier gateway, that is envisioned to be transformed into a world-class international airport.
Energy sufficiency and internet connectivity projects are also being fast-tracked to ensure last-mile access and coverage to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas that need to be linked to all parts of the archipelago.
Developing the competency and skill sets of the country’s human resources needs to be fast-tracked through a national learning recovery program in basic education that would enable attainment of ideal proficiency levels in information literacy, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
As the Covid-19 has exposed the massive inadequacy of the country’s healthcare infrastructure, the government has established a pipeline of PPP-enabled projects, including the UP-PGH Cancer Center and the Philippine Cancer Care Center of the DOH. More than 20 Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS) centers are also being built to decongest public hospitals and facilitate the provision of health care for the poor.
Hopefully, the loud applause inside the Batasang Pambansa would reverberate throughout the land as President Marcos’ message reaches the hearts and minds of the citizenry: “Lagi nating labanan ang mali at masama...ipaglaban ang tama at ang mabuti.” (Let us fight wrongdoing and evil. Let us fight to uphold what’s right and good.”)