Senators expect President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to highlight and focus on his plans to create more jobs and address the expensive cost of living during his upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24.
Senator Christopher Lawrence Go said Monday he expects to hear from President Marcos the administration’s plan for the country’s inclusive and full economic recovery from the pandemic.
“First of all, no poor individual should be left behind. Let us prioritize programs that can help our people. No one should starve. It is important that every Filipino has a job,” Go told reporters after distributing aid for fire victims and indigent families in Novaliches, Quezon City.
Go also expressed his support for the Marcos administration’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, food security, supply chain management, decreasing energy cost and energy security, reducing economic vulnerability from the pandemic by addressing healthcare issues and strengthening social protection.
Senator Raffy Tulfo, for his part, said the President did an “excellent job” so far without blaming anyone. “If you’d ask me how would I rate him, I think he did an excellent job if we consider that he inherited many problems. That’s what I like about PBBM, he is not blaming anyone). He just continues doing what he thinks is good, best,” he told media in a press conference at the Senate.
Tulfo cited the President’s foreign trips which earned the country a lot of investment pledges and showed his concern for overseas Filipino workers.
The President’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos said she would like her brother to present a concrete program to ease the burden of Filipinos in their cost of living.
“How to ease the high prices of gasoline, diesel, LPG, food, which all affect the poor, who spend 60 percent of their resources on food,” she said in a recent media interview after a speech during graduation rites at Laguna State Polytechnic University.
The President has repeatedly expressed his optimism that the country could sustain its momentum with its unemployment rate having further dropped to 4.3% in May this year from 6% a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.