Someone who does not think about politics, but how to make the Philippines better.

This was one of the many qualities President Marcos enumerated, describing the kind of leader to elect in 2028.

Participating in the fireside chat during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Editors and Economic Opinion Leaders Forum on Tuesday, Feb, 24, Marcos candidly responded when he was asked to give a hint on who Filipinos must vote for in 2028.

He went on to mention several characteristics, such as being an economist, a nation-builder, and someone who loves the country, and is competent.

"Well, number one, somebody who understands economics, that's the first thing. That's the life of the person. Who understands how to create jobs, how to keep the inflation rate down, who understands how to make food supply a given, something that you can assume," Marcos said.

"And someone who thinks about productivity, because growth is about productivity. How do you make your working population more productive, how do you support them so they work better. How do you fix the education system, so they are better trained. How do you make sure that they are healthier, how do you make sure that they don't have to worry about food," Marcos added.

And the President went on, saying "those are the kind of people that we need——the people who actually are thinking about, not politics but, how to make the country better."

Although Marcos stressed that the next leaders elected in 2028, after his administration, must love the Philippines and Filipinos, he stressed that love would not be enough.

The next leaders should know how to put that love into action. Thus, they should have competency.

He stressed that for so long, he has believed that a leader must be a nation-builder, so the next ones should also have this quality.

"We need to have nation builders—people who want to make the Philippines better, people who actually love the Philippines and love Filipinos and want to make things better," Marcos said.

"It boils down to this...it might sound a little sentimental or emotional but that's what you need and of course, there has to be that element of competency, you know love goes a long way but it's not enough. You also have to know how to do it. You have to have some training or at the very least, you have to listen to people who have that training," he added.