Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña found President Marcos' fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) to be lacking any substance as he failed to bring up any plans to improve the lives of Filipinos--especially the workers.

For Cendaña, the President's address this year appeared to be a "boring accomplishment report of any government office".

"Nutrition month pa naman, pero puro sabaw at walang kalaman-laman ang report ng Presidente (It’s nutrition month, but what we all heard from the President’s report was very shallow and lacked substance)," he said.

Cendaña criticized how Marcos capitalized on "investing in the Filipino" pronouncement, but he did not mention anything that would improve the lives of Filipino workers.

"Sabi niya, ‘invest in the Filipino’, pero wala man lang nabanggit na wage hike para sa mga minimum-wage earners at mga mga government workers. Asan ang investment doon (He said, ‘invest in Filipinos', But he did not talk about wage hike for minimum wage and government workers. Where’s the investment there)?" he asked.

He said the one hour-plus long national address only touched on band-aid solutions and lacked transformative policies.

"Marami sa binanggit na solusyon, hindi naman pangmatagalan. Merong mga pinangakong dagdag benipisyong medikal pero paano pakikinabangan kung hindi accessible sa maraming Pilipino (Many solutions that he cited were not really meant for long term. He promised additional medical benefits. But how could Filipinos benefit from them if they are not even accessible)," he said.

Another Akbayan solon, Dadah Kiram Ismula, felt disappointment by the non-mention of indigenous peoples (IPs) during Marcos’ address.

“Zero. That's the number of times the President has mentioned the indigenous peoples in his SONA since he was elected,” Ismula said, as she added that members of the IPs have always failed to secure their ancestral domains and rights under the government’s slogan of Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines).

She then demanded Marcos to come up with concrete plans for IPs in Mindanao as well as for women.

Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno said Marcos' pronouncements should not end up being false promises.

He reckoned that while it's easy to make promises such as fighting corruption and upholding accountability, doing them “is not just a one-click away".

“Umaasa kaming masusundan ng gawa ang mga salita ng Pangulo. At sa Kongreso, kasama ang Akbayan Reform Bloc, lalo tayong determinadong maging fiscalizer: upang siguruhin ang pananagutan at tiyakin na walang batang maiiwan (We are hoping that there will be actions on all of his words. And here in the Congress, the Akbayan Reform Bloc is determined to become fiscalizers to ensure there is accountability and no one is left behind),” he said.