What people wish to hear

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will deliver today his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) in a very unenviable position. His administration has inherited a nation with a myriad of problems: An economy battered by more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, an astronomical debt burden that is nearing P13 trillion, rising fuel and consumer prices, joblessness, an education crisis, worsening poverty, impending food supply shortages due to trade disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. He will outline where the country and its people stand and lay out the plans to achieve his administration’s goals for the next six years. Everyone expects the economy to take center stage in the President’s Sona and hopefully assure the people that the government has the roadmap to resuscitate it.

Lawmakers and big businesses have made known what they wish Mr. Marcos will tackle in his Sona, the majority of them relating to the economy and the government’s pandemic response. Sen. JV Ejercito says Mr. Marcos should discuss a comprehensive economic plan “that will go beyond proposals to raise existing taxes and levy new ones.” He also hopes the President will unveil his infrastructure development plans to strengthen the “Build, Build, Build” program as promised during the campaign, as well as projects on food security amid the impending food crisis. Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Jinggoy Estrada also wish the President will discuss his plans for economic recovery and job generation.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda says the administration’s plans to counter problems in agriculture, inflation, and the lack of jobs should be the focus of the Sona. He agrees that the top concern must be agriculture, especially with most of the country’s food products being imported as local production suffers from higher production costs. Mr. Marcos heads the Department of Agriculture, indicating the priority he is giving to the farm sector. Sen. Grace Poe wants improvement in the country’s digital connectivity and e-governance and is looking forward to the President’s earlier marching orders to improve these to reach residents of far-flung communities. Meanwhile, Sen. Sonny Angara is eager to hear about the President’s plan on tie-ups with the private sector. Local business groups and foreign chambers have listed their wishes in their call on the incoming Congress to pass 24 legislative measures they feel are important. The private sector groups are urging the new administration to enact measures aimed at enabling inclusive growth for the country.

Outside of the economy, detained former senator Leila de Lima hopes Mr. Marcos will tackle human rights and criminal justice reform. “I’m hoping that issues on human rights and criminal justice reform, including prison reform, will not be forgotten during the Sona,” she says in Filipino on Twitter. An alliance of fisherfolk, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, wants Mr. Marcos to flesh out his plans on asserting sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, empowering local fisheries production, and protecting coastal communities. Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman wishes to hear a more elaborate articulation of how to sustain the gains of peace, especially in Mindanao.

What about the ordinary wage earners and consumers? All they wish is for Mr. Marcos to focus more on solutions to the pressing problems at hand. Not only do they know the state of the nation, they are actually feeling and bearing the brunt of the economic and social impact of the pandemic and the adverse trade repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine war, which are evident in the surging fuel prices and the resulting increases in the cost of basic goods and services. Tens of thousands of them lost their jobs and many of them were pushed to poverty because of the health and economic crises. Millions of parents agonized with the shift to distance learning two years ago.

Consumers, commuters, and public utility drivers want to hear immediate and concrete plans for mitigating the impact of rising petroleum prices on them. Parents want to hear specific plans on the impending return to in-person classes in August and November without them worrying about their children’s health and safety. The unemployed want to hear what job-generating plans the government will undertake in the coming weeks or months. Ordinary households want to hear the government’s measures to address with urgency the supply and price issues in rice, vegetables, pork, chicken, fish, and many other agricultural items. (Read more Sona wishes from Inquirer’s special supplement on pages A2-1 to A2-6.)

It is reassuring for big businesses and lawmakers to hear a six-year roadmap with all the promises on how to achieve its different goals. However, the majority of the people are more interested in what they will eat today, if prices of food will start going down soon, how safe it will be to send children to schools, and if there will be jobs available in the next few weeks or months. These are the disquieting concerns that ordinary Filipinos wish Mr. Marcos will address in his first Sona today.

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