By Atty. Howie Calleja
From 4:06pm to 5:17pm, a speech which lasted for 1 hour and 11 minutes, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. delivered his second State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa Complex joined by Senate President Migz Zubiri and his first cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez; and honestly after past SONAs marred by crass language and delayed arrival of the former president, this was to some extent a breath of fresh air.
This being said allow me to weigh in with some of our “SANA” to the President’s SONA which needs to be clarified in the interest of truth.
SANA when he said that “For the first quarter of this year, our growth has registered at 6.4%. It remains within our target of 6% to 7% for 2023. We are still considered to be among the fastest growing economies in the Asian region and in the world,” He also mentioned that that the 6.4% growth in the first quarter was the country’s slowest since it exited the pandemic-induced recession in 2021 and that the 6.4% GDP growth in the first quarter was still a sharp two-point drop from 8.3% for the same period year-on-year. It was also slower than the 7.1% booked in the last quarter of 2022. SANA when he touts economic gains he likewise juxtapose this to the national debt that reached ₱14.10 trillion as of May 2023.
SANA when he said (also as concurrent Agriculture Chief) that “1.8 million families benefited from the low prices offered in more than 7,000 Kadiwa outlets in the Philippines,” He was likewise honest to admit that according to DSWD’s Survey (Listahan) there are 5.6 million poor households in the Philippines. This means KADIWA benefited one-third or only 1 out of 3 of poor households in the country which I think is clearly far from what needs to be done.
SANA when he said that “In the past months, we have seen prices of goods dropping in different sectors. We have proven that the prices of rice, meat, fish, vegetables, and sugar can be reduced,” He also explained that a slowing inflation rate does not mean a drop in prices. Even with slowing inflation, prices today are still considerably higher than they were last year. SANA he still remembers that we still have to fully recover from the extremely high prices of food staples like onion (up 560% at peak from June 2022), sugar (40% jump from June to August 2022), and eggs (40% rise since June 2022).
An eloquent SONA does not equate to an unfulfilled SANA. Economic figures without the proper real life context are all but empty words. We must meet the expectations of every poor Filipino if we want to truly mirror the true state of our nation. The centrality of Marcos’ more than hour-long speech focused on the economy and business, to which the President cited several figures to showcase the country’s supposedly impressive economic recovery but without the situational backdrop to back this claim all of these are mere rhetoric. It’s time to WALK the TALK.