SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday said President Marcos failed to present the true state of the nation when he delivered his second State of the Nation Address last week.
In his contra-SONA speech, Pimentel said the “realistic” SONA the people have been wanting to hear was not presented because the country’s perennial problems remain. He also said it was wrong for the President to say that Filipinos have been feeling the effects of decreasing prices of goods and services in the country in the past months.
“The state of the nation is worrisome. Nakakabagabag. Nakakabahala. Mahirap ang buhay ng Pilipino ngayon. Mahal ang presyo ng pagkain at iba pang bilihin. At patuloy pa rin ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga ito (The state of the Nation is worrisome. Filipinos are still experiencing hardships. Prices of food and other commodities remain high. And these continue to rise),” Pimentel said in the contra-SONA speech delivered before the plenary.
He said the country is deep in debt, now at P14.1 trillion, which he said means that each Filipino “has a debt of around P120,000.”
“This national debt figure does not even include the GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporations) and LGU (local government unit) debts,” he said.
“The fact that our national debt has doubled in just six years clearly indicates that we have not succeeded in decreasing the principal sum of our debt,” he added.
Pimentel said corruption in government still persists and this has “definitely contributed to the ballooning of our debt.” He said based on the 2022 Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, the Philippines ranked 116th out of 180 countries which are perceived corrupt in the public sector.
He said he hoped Marcos, in the July 24 SONA, would announce his administration’s game plan in fighting the worsening corruption,” but he did not tackle the issue.
SLOGANS
Pimentel said the administration was preoccupied with coming up with new slogans and logos, which he said is just “a manifestation of wasteful spending and incompetence, if not corruption” which goes to show of “misplaced priorities.”
He said it is best for the government to spend its budget on pressing concerns like the need to increase food production, the education crisis, improving health services, lowering energy cost, taming inflation, eliminating injustice, providing jobs, fighting crime and corruption, supporting creative industries, and multiplying connectivity, among others.
Pimentel also called out the administration for what he said is its penchant of having confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) for agencies “which are not even engaged in national security and public order or law enforcement work.”
The government has allotted P10 billion for CIFs in the 2023 national budget.
Pimentel also scored government for some other problems, like on airport immigration officers who ordered the offloading of several outgoing passengers for unclear reasons, on backlog of license plates at the Land Transportation Office, on “collapsing bridges” in some parts of the country, on the PNP’s involvement in illegal drugs, unsolved killings, missing “sabongeros” or cockfighting afficionados, issues at the education sector, poor healthcare services, and lack of government programs for senior citizens, those with mental health problems, and with disabilities, among others,
He said the President’s mention of the 7.6 percent growth in gross domestic product “means nothing to the ordinary Filipino” since cost of living remain high as the income of the ordinary citizen “is not enough for their basic needs and for their decent existence as a family of human beings.”
WAGES, JOBS
He said the President also did not mention having a “national minimum wage” which will ensure that all workers will receive a just living wage.
Pimentel said there is also something wrong with the collection of data of government since the President boasted of a 95.7 percent employment rate, which he said means that only 4.3 percent are unemployed. With the rate, he said the Philippines can be considered as a fully employed economy but in reality, millions of Filipinos are still without jobs.
He said the President failed to explain the effect of a decrease in inflation rate, and did not state why the price of onion has reached an all-time high of P800 per kilo.
He said the price of sugar remain high despite the “flooding of imported sugar in the market” and the President did not explain why the Sugar Regulatory Administration was rocked by two scandals in less than a year.
On the issue of smuggling, Pimentel said the President should check on reports that “personalities” involved in smuggling are being able to join in his foreign trips.”
“Please exercise vigilance and impose the highest standards in qualifying personalities as part of the presidential delegation or of the people allowed to be seen and associated with the President,” he said.
Pimentel also said it was “good” that Marcos did not tout the passage of the Maharlika Investment Fund “to be his administration’s greatest achievement in its first year, as achievement it is not.”
“What is sad is that to make P125 billion earn, we have to spend around P2.5 billion, and first to get jobs out of this Maharlika Investment Fund are members of a ‘group of internationally recognized economic managers’ who are most likely foreigners,” he said.
“The President should have explained to the Filipino people why he pushed for this measure when it is not necessarily needed,” he added.
He questioned the President’s statement that his foreign trips have yielded about P3.9 trillion which has the potential to create 175,000 jobs, but in contrast the P125 billion seed fund of the MIF would generate around 350,000 direct jobs.
“The President, who is a mathematician, knows his numbers better than some of his economic advisers,” he said.
He said the President should also review the formulas used by national agencies when they compute for the “national demand” for various agricultural products since “there is something fishy in the formulas.”
MARGINALIZED
Pimentel said the President should also push for reforms in the party-list system so that the truly marginalized sectors are represented in Congress.
“There is too much inequality in our land. Inequality can be measured by wealth inequality, income inequality, and inequality in the benefits from GDP growth. It is about time that our economic managers also give us accurate reports on these matters,” he added.
He said the President failed to clearly discuss in his second SONA the issues concerning the West Philippine Sea, the additional EDCA sites, the planned temporary stay of Afghan refugees in the country, and the recent landings of US military aircraft in the country.
He said another “curious omission” is the administration’s stand on the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) despite opposition from various groups and lawmakers for their continued stay in the country, due to the crime related to the industry, which outweighs its economic benefits.
“So, why the inaction?” Pimentel said.
He also said there seems to be no focus on the part of Marcos on his priority measures because of differences in lists.
“In President Marcos’ first SONA, he mentioned 19 pieces of legislation of which none has been enacted inti law. In the second SONA, the President enumerated 16 new pieces of legislation. The LEDAC lists 20 pieces of legislation. All the lists are different from each other. What are we supposed to make of these lists? There is no focus. We are jumping all over the place,” he added.
Pimentel it is high time that Marcos focus on the true problems of the country which would improve the people’s lives.
“No amount of sloganeering, rebranding, and logo-vernance can hide the true state of the nation. Ang kailangan natin ay formula for development tulad ng ‘creativity, connectivity, community.’ Ang formula ay naa-aksyunan, ang slogan ay hindi (What we need are formulas for development like ‘creativity, connectivity, community.’ Formulas can be acted upon, slogans cannot),” he said.
