THE issues behind the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos Jr. do not end in the early evening of July 22, after he delivered the much-awaited speech or report to the nation at the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa building in Quezon City. In fact, many Filipinos have something to say about the state of affairs in the country, showing that citizens now are more involved in national concerns and not just parochial ones.
SONA 2024 is the President’s third since he assumed office, and people generally think that two years of governance would be enough to show some results in terms of solving the most basic problems of Filipinos such as high inflation rate and scaled-up price levels of everyday commodities, food security which includes the supply and prices of rice, and the need for new jobs to accommodate thousands of young people entering the workforce.
The third SONA was interrupted by numerous clapping of hands by the audience. The most boisterous applause with standing ovation was when the President announced the banning of POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) and the usual claim of sovereignty or ownership of the West Philippine Sea.
‘There is hope in the remaining years of the Marcos administration, if you ask the optimists, although the critics who belong to the anti-PBBM camp have already made up their minds.’
Marcos critics have tried to generate rain in his parade and dampen the SONA by showing an old video of an image of a man purportedly Bongbong Marcos sniffing white powder. The video was first shown in the Hakbang Maisug rally in Vancouver, Canada hosted by former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque, who also did some advisory work during the first year of the Marcos administration. Political bloggers like Maharlika had hoped that this “explosive” revelation would prod hundreds of thousands of Filipinos into an uprising just like EDSA One but this did not happen.
Instead, people stuck to their gadgets to listen to what the President had to report. Those who physically attended the SONA, especially officials, professionals and businessmen who are after all benefiting much from this administration, were most satisfied with the speech itself.
Speaker Martin Romualdez hailed his cousin’s declaration that the West Philippine Sea is rightfully ours, and called it “a powerful assertion of our national sovereignty.” Romualdez, who earlier aired concerns that a total ban could force POGOs to go underground, supported the President’s ban order.
Senate President Francis Escudero commended the President for “an excellent and perfectly delivered speech that showed and proved that he listens and cares for the Filipino.”
The Chief Executive played to the crowd when he emphasized the evil impacts of POGO which had been with us since the time of President Noynoy Aquino, although there were illicit and negligible operations. POGO enjoyed full dominance of the gambling industry under President Rodrigo Duterte, despite the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping had specifically requested him to stop POGO operations in the Philippines.
Marcos said, “Disgusting as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming, such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder. The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop.”
Those who are less interested in POGOs and more concerned about everyday problems such as the high cost of electricity were happy to hear the President promising to push Congress into amending the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA Law). This law was enacted in 2001 and was supposed to lower power costs through competition and power sector reforms but like other laws with good intentions, it failed to do so.
There is hope in the remaining years of the Marcos administration, if you ask the optimists, although the critics who belong to the anti-PBBM camp have already made up their minds.
