Walking the talk

Four days from now, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will be delivering his first State of the Nation Address (SoNA) at the Batasan Pambansa. It will be held at full, face-to-face capacity, according to reports.

All 315 members of the House are expected, as well as the 24 senators and members of the diplomatic corps, including invited guests.

Due to the limitations brought about by the ongoing pandemic, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s last two SoNA were held in hybrid or mixed live and virtual setups.

This early, Marcos Jr.’s SoNA is eagerly being awaited. He is expected to lay down his plans for the next six years. His series of meetings with lawmakers in the 19th Congress in the run-up to the SoNA were all focused on his possible legislative agenda.

A healthy relationship between the Executive and the Legislative branches, obviously, is vital for the Marcos programs to be successfully implemented.

So, what could be the new Chief Executive’s six-year plan for the country that he could possibly detail in his address on Monday? What could the people want to hear from him?

For sure, his SoNA would zoom in on his medium-term fiscal framework, which could be the backbone of his economic recovery efforts for the nation.

The framework, as Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno bared recently, will set the tone of Marcos Jr.’s game plan for the next six years. If ever, this will be the first time that any Philippine government will present such a game plan, if only to show the world that it is bent on having sound fiscal management.

Expected to be detailed by Marcos Jr. is a menu of measures to gradually lower inflation, which has been the concern of many since the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis sent the world to its knees with soaring prices of fuel and other basic commodities.

Diokno hinted that since inflation cannot be cut overnight, the Marcos administration is inclined to continue granting fuel subsidy to affected parties like drivers, farmers and fisherfolk. As a stop-gap measure, importation of products in short supply is likewise expected to continue, although the President, in his meeting with agriculture officials, has hinted of strengthening local food production in the long run.

Assuming that the economy would grow by 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year as forecast, the government, Diokno said, eyes an annual growth target from 2023 to 2028 of between 6.5 percent to 8 percent.

This, we believe is part of Marcos’ vision of an upper middle-income status for the country at the end of his term. Sounds ambitious? At least there’s no more unity ek-ek, which he has expounded oh so generously in his campaign.

Marcos Jr. is similarly expected to delve on reducing poverty incidence from 17 percent before the pandemic to 9 percent in 2028. He also plans to bring down the national debt load from the current 63 percent of gross national product to merely 60 percent by 2025.

With the government’s budget deficit ratio ballooning to 9 percent during the pandemic of which he has been a victim twice over, many are anxious to know how the President plans to cut the deficit, which is vital to his fiscal plans.

The Chief Executive is likewise expected to detail his plans on how to increase infrastructure spending from 5 percent to 6 percent of gross domestic product, which he had intimated recently.

How to effectively help local food producers and bring down prices of commodities will also be anticipated after the President ordered a sweeping review of all projects and programs of the Agriculture department, which he himself heads.

Amid a surge in the prices of fertilizer and other agricultural products,

Marcos Jr. is expected to outline his strategy for food producers to quickly bring their goods to trading posts.

After economic recovery, food security, it appears, is expected to occupy most of the President’s SoNA time. After all, everyone already knows what state the state is in now.

What they probably want to know more is how Marcos Jr.’s government will walk the talk as far as his plans for the next six years is concerned.

“After economic recovery, food security, it appears, is expected to occupy most of the President’s SoNA time.

A healthy relationship between the Executive and the Legislative branches, obviously, is vital for the Marcos programs to be successfully implemented.