Adesperate SONA

Let’s begin with what President Marcos did well. He presented himself with dignity. He was articulate and presidential. He was a stark contrast to Rodrigo Duterte whose crassness, incoherence and vulgarity reduced the SONA to a neighborhood drinking session.

BBM’s closing defense of Filipinos against China’s dehumanizing propaganda was appropriate and powerful. It provided the crescendo the speech needed. His assertion of Philippine dignity and sovereign rights was among the evening’s strongest moments. On this, he deserves credit.

Unfortunately, style could not conceal the SONA’s absence of substance.

Failure hidden behind subsidies

For the first 35 minutes, the President dished out a cornucopia of subsidies, discounts and freebies covering taxes, transport, electricity, fuel, health care, pensions, tuition, medicines, hospital bills and even debt relief. Handouts are an old trick used by presidents who have no transformative achievements to report. BBM was obviously buying popularity. It was cringy to watch…the desperation showed.

Marcos dispensed freebies while government is running one of the largest budget deficits in history. The recklessness did not escape us. Some concessions will be borne by government agencies and government corporations, most already stripped of funds to capitalize the Maharlika Investment Fund. The latter, by the way, has produced no discernible impact. Other subsidies will be paid by the private sector already burdened by rising costs.

Judging from the reaction of Meralco head Manny Pangilinan, Marcos did not even consult before cavalierly ordering the scrapping of transmission losses on electric bills. It’s easy to be generous with someone else’s money.

Further, Marcos unabashedly claimed credit for granting the largest minimum wage increase even if MSMEs and private companies are to inevitably shoulder the cost. What breathtaking gall. BBM dispenses other people’s money, grabs credit and demands applause for it. Talk about political freeloading by someone who never ran a successful business.

Marcos devoted barely two minutes to the flood control scandal. Again, conveniently failing to take responsibility for signing three national budgets peppered with the most questionable insertions, unprogrammed appropriations and discretionary spending in history. He allowed all these excesses to pass.

And now he poses as an anti-corruption crusader. He should first prove his sincerity by returning his family’s ill-gotten wealth. We have not forgotten that his father’s kleptocratic regime drowned the country in debt and entrenched a toxic culture of corruption in government. Ferdinand Senior wrecked the economy for an entire generation – my generation.

BBM also concealed his failure to deliver justice, as promised. Of 15 contractors flagged, only eight were charged and only Curlee Discaya is in custody. Of the 17 congressmen named by the Discayas, just three were charged. Not one is behind bars. His crusade against corruption is failing too.

As for the threatened prosecution of ex-speaker Martin Romualdez, we will believe it when we see it. BBM likes to make false promises. It is his modus operandi. Freebies and subsidies are the curtain behind which he hides.

The economy and political reform

BBM’s economic record is tragic. GDP growth decelerated from 7.6 percent in 2022 to 4.4 percent in 2025. The first quarter of 2026 produced only 2.8 percent growth, while the World Bank expects just 3.87 percent for the year. External shocks contributed, yes. But weak reform, policy drift and poor implementation of programs from a badly considered Cabinet have aggravated the slowdown. This is all on BBM.

Foreign direct investments fell to just $7.5 billion last year from almost $10 billion in 2023 and 2024. Industrial growth remains anemic at 1.5 percent. Agriculture stats were presented deceptively. Agricultural outputs actually contracted in 2023 and 2024 before recovering in 2025. From 2022 to 2025, cumulative growth was only 0.2 percent – effective stagnation and decline when measured against population growth.

His political reform record is just as dismal. The anti-dynasty bill associated with his son Sandro is a joke. Instead of dismantling dynasties, it offers them a pathway to legitimacy. How predictable. Expecting the Marcoses to dismantle the system that fuels their family business is like expecting chickens to endorse KFC. Meanwhile, political party reform, campaign-finance reform and bureaucratic reforms remain neglected.

Squandering precious opportunity

Marcos is becoming one of the most destructive presidents we have had, trailing only his father and Duterte.

The tragedy of his presidency is not merely its drift and poor performance. It is the precious time squandered during the most consequential period of Philippine development, when decisive leadership and structural reform matter most.

The country is in its demographic sweet spot, with about 25 years before the population ages. Within this narrow window, we must triple per capita income, sustain growth above six percent, raise productivity and build industrial capacity. Otherwise, the country will grow old before becoming rich.

We were moving forward, however imperfectly. But Marcos has weakened that momentum through his weak leadership. Time is ticking as the economy slows and our institutions erode rather than strengthen.

The nation is paying for a Marcos scion who sought the presidency for the wrong reasons. He said it himself in a January 2022 ANC interview: he ran to protect his family’s interest. His candidacy was never about national development or transformation. It was always for selfish reasons.

No surprise, four years into his administration, BBM has articulated no credible national vision. “Bagong Pilipinas” was a PR ruse he scarcely mentions anymore. He has offered no coherent development strategy, institutional reform agenda or credible plan to improve governance.

BBM is squandering our last great opportunity. Just when the country needed a blueprint to accelerate development, we got a president who believes freebies will solve everything and absolve him of failure.

Freebies are welcome. But history will judge Marcos by whether he used the country’s fleeting demographic window to transform the economy – or wasted it before the opportunity disappears forever. So far, he has wasted four years.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan