“The Filipino people, highly knowledgeable about PBBM’s personal and family background, wanted to see results”
On July 1, 2022, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. began his first full day as Chief Executive of the Republic of the Philippines after having been declared to have received a 31-million-plus mandate from this country’s voters. That was more than two years ago, and a week from now, on July 22, President Marcos —PBBM in official shorthand—will render an accounting of his two-year stewardship of the nation’s affairs in his second on-my-watch State of the Nation Address (SONA).
A SONA has three time dimensions. It addresses the present state of national affairs. “The nation is in great shape” or “The nation is in crisis,” the Chief Executive tells the nation.
The past—that’s the second time dimension of a SONA. Accomplishments notched, headwinds encountered, challenges experienced, breakthroughs made —these are the kinds of things that make up the part of a SONA that deals with the conduct of the nation’s business during the preceding twelve months.
Mid-2022 was hardly the best time to enter into the presidency or the Republic. The pandemic, then in its third year, was still causing much loss of life, economic activity and financial stability. The economic and social effects of the double-digit plunge in GDP (gross domestic production)—the steepest GDP since the economic crisis of the mid-1980–were still being felt.
Compounding the direness of the national condition was the fallout on Philippine society of the turbulence and disruption generated by former President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial policies and the fiscal deficit created by the anti-COVID ayuda program and Mr. Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” projects and the negative impact on FDI (foreign direct investment) of the former Chief Executive’s antagonistic attitude toward the Philippines’ traditional economic policies that placed a heavy burden on the economic managers.
The third time dimension of a SONA is the future. More important than describing the present situation of the nation and identifying the causes of that situation is the provision of a road map for the journey of the nation in the ensuing twelve months. A SONA contains broad strokes only; the specifics of the journey are contained in the administration’s general—appropriations proposal, the core of which is the National Expenditures Program (NEP).
PBBM has many major things on his economic plate — high food prices, fiscal and external trade deficits, continuing high incidence of poverty, week investment inflow, bureaucratic corruption, unemployment and inadequate social services. In his upcoming SONA, he will tell the nation how his administration intends to deal with these challenges to governance.
Truth to tell, the Filipino people, highly knowledgeable about PBBM’s personal and family background, were not inclined to expect much from the son and namesake of President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. They were not awed by his 31-million-votes victory; they wanted to see results.
Editor’s Note:
Romero returns to business section
After several years in the opinion page, Rudy Romero returns to the business section of Manila Standard. Romero’s column, Business Class, first appeared in the business section in 2013.
A lawyer and an economist, Romero practices and teaches law and has been an officer or consultant of a number of major financial institutions. Business Class will appear every Tuesday.
