Taking the bull by the horns

President Marcos took the bull by the horns on Monday by addressing key issues in his fifth State of the Nation Address that two separate surveys showed the public wanted the beleaguered administration to tackle.

OCTA Research’s survey showed a lower trust rating for both the President and Vice President Sara Duterte, with the President’s trust rating dropping to 49 percent from 54 percent.

Vice President Sara’s trust rating, following the ongoing impeachment trial, also finally showed a decline to 47 percent from her previously high rating of 55 percent, which had rattled the President.

The survey results separately conducted by EON The Stakeholder Relations Group in partnership with Tangere similarly showed that there was a significant gap in public confidence, with 49 percent of the respondents expressing distrust in the Marcos government’s ability to solve national problems.

Also of significance was that 55 percent of the survey respondents indicated that the current government does not listen to ordinary citizens, and 46 percent of those surveyed believe that earlier SONA promises remain unfulfilled.

Thus, in his fifth SONA at the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, the President proved that he is finally willing to tackle the corruption issue hounding him because of his earlier hesitation, or resistance, to subject his own cousin — former House Speaker Martin Romualdez — to an investigation regarding Romualdez’s own involvement and culpability in the controversial flood control scandal, especially since the former House Speaker was involved in the House budget deliberations.

After brief salutations, the President went straight to the point by finally assuring the public that his own cousin would be subjected to an investigation into the flood control controversy, in which fugitive Congressman Zaldy Co had implicated Romualdez through massive payoffs.

The President garnered strong applause after admitting: “Hindi ako Pangulo ng aking pamilya. Hindi ako Pangulo ng aking mga kaibigan. Ako ay Pangulo ng Pilipinas at ang tungkulin ko ay sa inyo: ang aking mga kapwa Pilipino.”

“I am not the President of my family. I am not the President of my friends. I am the President of the Philippines, and my duty is to you — my fellow Filipinos.”

In his one-and-a-half-hour speech, the President efficiently tackled the issues that a separate survey conducted by EON and Tangere showed Filipinos want the current administration to address.

The EON-Tangere survey showed that nearly half of Filipinos, or 48 percent, want President Marcos to deliver concrete solutions to national issues, while 36 percent of the survey respondents want concrete anti-corruption measures.

Top concerns of the survey respondents were the economy, with inflation topping the list of issues citizens want addressed at 67 percent, closely followed by jobs and wages at 56 percent, education at 53 percent, food security at 47 percent and health care at 45 percent.

Among the economic issues he addressed that garnered applause was the proposal to exempt workers who earn up to P350,000 a year from income tax, and to remove the minimum corporate income tax for small businesses, especially since small and medium enterprises form the backbone of the local economy, as they make up 99.5 percent of business establishments in the country and provide 63 percent of employment to the Philippine workforce.

The SME sector contributes about 40 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

The President said that the Bureau of Internal Revenue is implementing a one-time tax abatement for micro-entrepreneurs to give them some relief, especially at this time when the country is being affected by global challenges.

He likewise proposed a tax amnesty for unpaid income, estate, donor’s and value-added taxes, including penalties.

Another well-applauded proposal the President put forward was the immediate amendment of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, or EPIRA, that was intended to ensure and accelerate the total electrification of the country and ensure the quality, reliability, security and affordability of the supply of electric power, as well as ensure transparent and reasonable electricity prices.

Catering to populist sentiment, the President said that amending the EPIRA would prohibit power companies from passing on system losses to consumers, including the value-added tax imposed on those charges. Consumers, he said, should not bear the costs of system losses.

The President also made it clear that he supports power generated from nuclear energy, even as its safety continues to be hotly debated.

In terms of digital transformation, the President assured the public that the Department of Information and Communications Technology continues to train more Filipinos in high-impact tech skills to help them stay competitive in this ever-evolving field, noting that “AI is here to stay; and so we adopt it to harness its potential to enhance critical sectors, from our educational system to our industries. We have launched massive training programs for AI readiness, which have reached at least 1.8 million individuals — students, parents and teachers alike. This success inspires confidence to further scale up our initiatives for AI literacy across all sectors. We must ensure our global competitiveness. Within and beyond the academe, we must inculcate in our youth the virtues of critical thinking, innovativeness, creativity, as well as the ability to find solutions to problems.”

Furthermore, the President said that the Pax Silica Industrial Hub will create an ecosystem that will have AI at its core, “bringing quality jobs to our people, accelerating our industrial competitiveness and revitalizing our economy.”

As a strategic component of the Luzon Economic Corridor, he said, the hub would be an advanced manufacturing and logistics center in the global AI and technology value chain.