SONA and SANA

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is basically a Statement of All National Aspirations (SANA) of any Philippine president, especially in the first three of his six-year presidency.

Thus, it was not surprising that the second SONA of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. received no less than 70 rounds of applause, despite his long and tedious but marvelous delivery of one hour and 11 minutes.

The projects and programs enumerated in PBMM’s SONA are the most ambitious, far-reaching and wide-ranging ever made by any Filipino president. This explains the enthusiastic rounds of applause. Congress and the nation join Marcos II in his dreaming. Sana all, as they say.

For the first time, noted Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, “we have a President who is engaged in nation building.”  Well, the first president to do nation-building was PBBM’s father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and he needed 20 years to do the job.

Marcos II has only five years to implement or finish the projects and programs enumerated in his SONA II.  Still, at the end of his 8,275-word address, the President beamed, in Pilipino, “the new Philippines has arrived!” Hoots and thunderous applause.

One word connects all the BBM projects: Connectivity. It means infra – roads, bridges, seaports, airports and mass transport. It means access – to food, water, electricity, health care, quality education and all things digital.

Marcos II’s infra is mind-boggling: 194 projects, of which 120 are new, and they will cost P8.3 trillion (P9 trillion with inflation) and average 5 to 6 percent of GDP per year.

Infra includes huge projects thought of in the last 50 years but never implemented: 1) 1,000 kms of railways to restore the old Philippine National Railways network from north to Bicol; 2) 1,200 kms of highways from Pagudpud to Bicol to cut travel time from 20 hours to nine; plus 3) 12 bridges spanning 90 kms to connect Bataan and Cavite, Panay, Guimaras and Negros; and Samal and Davao.

“The underlying logic to our infrastructure development is economic efficiency. We are opening up all gateways to mobilize goods and services at less cost and in less time and, ultimately, to drive the economy forward. Our road network plans must link not only our three major islands, but all prospective sites of economic development,” explained Marcos II.

Financing will come from investments. Marcos claimed having generated $71 billion in investment pledges in his trips. That money can fully pay Phl foreign debts.

On food, Marcos II said “our aim is to boost our local agricultural production – through consolidation, modernization, mechanization and improvement of value chains – augmented by timely and calibrated importation, as needed.” Agriculture, as a sector of GDP, rose 2.2 percent in the first quarter. Its average growth per capita in 30 years: 0.2 percent per year.

The President wants more farm and fisheries cooperatives. About 900 coops have been formed recently involving 200,000 hectares of farm lands.  Technology will boost fertilizer output. Farm machinery will be deployed; over 20,000 have been distributed so far.  Irrigation has been provided to additional 49,000 hectares.

The President has vowed to run after food smugglers, hoarders and price manipulators. “Your days are numbered,” he warned. Does that mean they will be EJK-ed?

Will the food shortage, quite severe, be solved? Don’t bank on it.

Rice will forever be in short supply. The Philippines needs to import two million to three million tons yearly to cover a 25 percent perennial food shortage. Overseas, wheat has gone scarce, thanks to the Ukraine war.  India, supplier of 40 percent of rice exports, has banned exports.

Water? The President promises an increase in supply, and not a supply adequacy. Water shortage is strange for a country two-thirds of whose territory is – water. He wants a Department of Water, pronto, from Congress.

On energy, Marcos II said “renewable energy is the way forward. We are aggressively promoting renewables, so that it provides a 35 percent share in the power mix by 2030, and then on to 50 percent by 2040. To accelerate the realization of this green energy goal, we have opened renewable energy projects to foreign investments.”

And, “an additional 126 renewable energy contracts with potential capacity of 31,000 megawatts have been awarded. To date, we have over a thousand active projects spread all over the country: 299 of these are solar; 187 are wind; 436 are hydroelectric; 58 biomass; 36 geothermal and 9 are ocean-powered.”

The contract for Malampaya, supplier of 20 percent of our electricity, has been renewed.

Usually, 1,000 MW of sustained power is equivalent to one full hour of reliable power. So 31,000 MW could mean 31 hours daily of additional electricity. Sounds good, on paper.

Meanwhile, “digitalization is the call of today; not the call of the future – but of the present. It is here. It is needed, and it is needed today,” the President said, for government “to provide better service to the people, through its vital frontline services and its back-end functions.”

Digitalization “is the greatest, most powerful tool, not just to improve the ease of doing business, but also against many forms of graft and corruption,” he said.

Digitalization “has significantly boosted efficiency… in the areas of government payments, company and business registrations, issuance of permits and licenses, loan applications and revenue collection.”

“All our digitalization efforts will be linked to our payment systems, whose digital transformation has been accelerating at a remarkable rate.”

About 87 percent of Filipinos that need a national ID have it by now.  Internet speeds remain dismal. Phl ranks 83rd out of 142 countries. Phl is the 12th largest nation on earth.

Marcos II pleaded: “Our journey to progress requires not only unity and social cohesion among our people. It is also imperative that our nation remains intact and inviolable, our sovereignty preserved. We will protect our sovereign rights and preserve our territorial integrity, in defense of a rules-based international order.” [applause]

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