State of poverty

Whether she shows up or not at the State of the Nation Address today, Vice President Sara Duterte has become a focus of attention in President Marcos’ third SONA.

The annual report to the nation is generally uneventful. BBM will have to say something dramatic to divert attention from the absence of his estranged VP, which shows the undeniable disintegration of the UniTeam midway through their term.

Security has become a focus of attention amid the scenario implied in the VP’s statement that she was skipping the event and naming herself the designated survivor. The assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump has heightened the security concerns, although officials said they have received no threats related to the SONA. The Philippine National Police is literally deploying big guns – against drones, which are banned from the Batasang Pambansa airspace.

There are some low-hanging fruits that can make this SONA memorable for BBM.

One, he can announce a total ban on Philippine offshore gaming operator firms. At this point, it looks like only his favorite cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez, their House minions, gaming chief Alejandro Tengco and MIA Bamban Mayor Alice Guo remain enamored with POGOs.

Two – before the issue becomes a strong cause for his political opponents – he can announce that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. will no longer be required to turn over P89.9 billion in “unused” funds to the national coffers. PhilHealth already has enough scandals on its plate. And despite the expansion of its services, state health insurance coverage and public health care in general remain woefully inadequate.

The national budget for 2024 is financing projects in the runup to the 2025 midterm elections. “Savings” of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) such as PhilHealth, as provided in the 2024 General Appropriations Act, can go to unprogrammed appropriations for projects identified by lawmakers or Malacañang.

People are amazed that PhilHealth is even classified as a GOCC, lumped together with the likes of PAGCOR and the now defunct National Agribusiness Corp.

NABCOR was abolished after being identified as a favorite conduit of lawmakers for stealing billions from the people through the pork barrel system. Now the pork barrel is back, through the use of unprogrammed appropriations in the annual national budget, to be funded with excess funds from GOCCs including PhilHealth.

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Into his third year, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has earned points for his foreign policy and in his approach to the illegal drug problem.

Compared with his uncouth and violently inclined predecessor, BBM is presidential in speech, behavior and overall personality (although some say that this is a minus in terms of mass appeal in this country). That recent AI-generated video portraying BBM ordering the military to attack Chinese forces was instantly recognizable as fake precisely because Filipinos have never heard BBM raise his voice or show anger in public.

But the country continues to suffer from seemingly intractable problems of poverty – in terms of income, food and learning. Two laws have failed to improve ease of doing business – still among the top concerns of investors. Government devolution has wreaked havoc on long-term, coordinated development planning and the implementation of many worthy national projects and programs.

BBM has also become distracted by his objective of remaking the Marcos image, which so far has had mixed results. We now have Masagana, Kadiwa and Maharlika redux, the latter still gasping for life. Ferdinand Senior’s corruption-tainted nuclear program is being resurrected, in an updated and miniaturized version.

In his SONA last year, BBM launched Bagong Lipunan redux: Bagong Pilipinas. Today, for the life of me, I still don’t know what it stands for, with its “hymn” and pledge now impositions on government offices and public schools.

The most recent attempt yet at an image remake has been his glorification of his mommie dearest, graft convict-on-bail Imeldific, and her specialty hospital projects, without mentioning her “edifice complex” and reputation for fat commissions.

BBM is improving the human rights record of the Marcos name. In terms of corruption, however, “Marcos 2.0” is taking on a new meaning, compounded by graft at all levels of government all the way down to the barangay.

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Into his third year, BBM has sustained his campaign strategy of keeping his head above the fray and letting others serve as attack dogs, or to do the dirty work of crushing his foes.

VP Sara’s boycott of his SONA is among the results.

His first year in office, during which he served concurrently as agriculture chief, will be remembered for crisis after crisis involving agricultural commodities, from sugar to rice to “chicken sad,” onions and even salt.

In his second year in office, attention was focused on railroading of the Maharlika Investment Fund and the sloppy attempt to railroad Charter change, and the ever-widening rift with the Dutertes that culminated in VP Sara’s exit this year from her appointive positions.

The UniTeam campaigned on a theme of, what else, national unity. But like most political unions in this country, this one was not based on ideology or shared values and approaches to the mountain of problems faced by the nation.

Underpinning the alliance was the belief (at least on one side) that Inday Sara – who agreed to slide to the vice presidential race despite enjoying higher ratings than BBM – would get his endorsement as his successor in 2028.

As soon as her publicly announced preference for the defense portfolio was publicly turned down by BBM, however, speculation started that there were cracks in the vaunted UniTeam.

It soon became clear that the Marcos clan had other plans about continuity beyond 2028. This was evident in BBM’s choice for speaker of the House of Representatives. Following the House intramurals, the VP threw a tantrum, and from there, the UniTeam was on an inexorable path to collapse.

Noynoy Aquino focused on fighting corruption to move the country forward. Rodrigo Duterte focused on fighting criminality. BBM emphasized unity, which proved to be as fragile as the UniTeam.

Marcos 2.0 can focus on fighting poverty in its various forms. Waging this battle must go beyond the distribution of state-subsidized rice and ayuda. If he can make a significant dent in these problems, it will go a long way in the rehabilitation of the Marcos name.