It felt like Christmas in July in the Philippines this week, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr delivered his State of the Nation Address on Monday with a veritable haul of gifts: cheap rice, free laptops, free bus rides and expanded healthcare.
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Yet for all the gift-giving flourish and parade of populist promises, one question remained – who will foot the bill?
The annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) has long served as a platform for Philippine presidents to trumpet their achievements and outline policy ambitions. But this year, Marcos conspicuously bypassed substantive discussion of foreign affairs and economic reform, instead opting for a speech that many analysts saw as an unabashed attempt to curry favour with the public.
Filipinos were “dismayed” by the state of basic services, the president opined, listing off the core anxieties of daily life: food, education, health, public transport. He urged local governments to revitalise parks and plazas and decreed that three major track-and-field ovals would be opened to the public to encourage exercise.
The timing of the president’s pledges was no accident. His address came in the wake of May’s bruising midterm election, when administration-backed Senate candidates fell far short of expectations, capturing only half the available seats.
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