President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flanked by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez before he delivers his State of the Nation Address.*
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. outlined his agenda for the country’s economic recovery in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), which was welcomed by upbeat Negros Occidental and Bacolod City officials while militants slammed him on Monday, July 25.
Marcos, who delivered a one hour and 14 minutes speech, said “the state of the nation is sound”.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said with the post pandemic recovery and response as the main backdrop of the state of the country, the president’s goals and targets were reassuring.
Lacson cited Marcos’ plans on fiscal stability and economic recovery, specialty hospitals, agriculture and food security, digitalization and the reduction of the digital divide, improvement of educational tools, infrastructure and jobs, affordable medicines and accessible healthcare, water security, foreign policy, and single digit poverty.
“The President’s SONA was well constructed and well delivered. It presented an explicit legislative agenda and a clear picture on what to expect under his administration,” Lacson said.
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said: “I loved it”.
Benitez attended the SONA with his wife, Nikki, and son Victorias City Mayor Javi Benitez.
Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, a staunch Marcos supporter who was also at the SONA, said “hats off to President BBM for sending a positive and inspiring message to the Filipino nation”.
Ferrer said he believes Marcos’ leadership “will aid us in surviving the impact of the globally-driven challenges caused by the pandemic and economic-driven factors”.
Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer and his wife Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer with Senator Bong Go (center) at the SONA*
Marcos programs on health are very encouraging because they will be felt by most local government units, Ferrer said.
HEART KIDNERY CENTER
Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya said Marcos’ priorities in public service aligns with his legislative agenda.
Gasataya said he has filed House Bill No. 999 seeking to establish the Bacolod-Negros Heart and Kidney Center to eliminate the geographical barrier in specialized medical care.
“We are glad that President Marcos expressed his intent to prioritize the establishment of healthcare specialty centers in provinces and less accessible areas,” Gasataya said.
With President Marcos’ promise of full support in Economic Zones, we remain optimistic for the establishment of the Bacolod Special Economic Zone to provide employment opportunities and decentralize development through House Bill No. 292, he said.
Gasataya said it is also high time that the executive branch puts renewable energy on top of its agenda considering that Negros is one of the most progressive Renewable Energy hubs in the country.
The measure he filed in Congress incentivizing renewable energy storage facilities will go hand in hand with the President’s policy of increased use of Renewable Energy in pursuit of climate change mitigation, clean energy, sustainable development, and rural electrification, Gasataya said.
‘VERY OPTIMISTIC’
Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (Neg. Occ., 2nd District) said “I am hopeful and very optimistic as the president laid his plans, our way forward, decreasing poverty incidence to single digits, mechanization of the agricultural sector, environmental protection, harnessing renewable energy”.
Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said Marcos speech was concise and concrete.
“The president laid out the concerns of development and recovery post pandemic as well as making the fourth industrial revolution benefit Filipinos. The fiscal policies and targets he laid out are clear,” he said.
It is “an overall successful start of his administration and I’m certain many legislators there took note of his priorities”, Benitez added
Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer (Neg. Occ., 4th District) said Marcos’s SONA was very good.
Rep. Emilio Yulo III (Neg. Occ., 5th District), who has COVID-19 and was unable to attended opening of Congress, said the president’s SONA was “impressive as to form and substance. In an hour and a half, BBM was able to clearly lay down the marching orders for each particular line agency.”
Marcos also enumerated the legislative agenda of his administration which he expects Congress to support, Yulo added.
Rep. Stephen Paduano (Abang Lingkod) said Marcos comprehensively outlined his targets “so let’s see what will happen”.
Paduano said he was happy to hear Marcos’ pledge to support the farmers and boost agricultural production.
He also noted that Marcos announced the condonation of the existing agrarian reform loans and support for agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Paduano said he was also happy the president said he will not “preside over any process that will abandon even a square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power”.
Former Bacolod mayor Evelio Leonardia, in a press statement, said “It is one SONA we will long remember. It was comprehensive, substantive, and exhaustive and gives us hope for a brighter future”.
The following are the key point of Marcos’ SONA:
Meanwhile, about 60 Bayan Negros protestors staged a protest to call for the rejection of Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, in front of the Fountain of Justice at Araneta Street in Bacolod City Monday afternoon.
They carried an effigy of the heads of Marcos and Duterte attached to the body of a crocodile.
They called on the people to fight for true democracy, freedom and progress, the return of the country’s stolen wealth, and the defense of human rights.*
