Senators look forward on hearing President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivering his plans on creating more jobs and addressing the expensive cost of living during his upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24.
In an interview on Monday, Senator Christopher Lawrence Go said he is looking forward to hear from President Marcos the administration’s inclusive and full economic recovery from the pandemic.
“Unang-una po ay dapat walang maiwan na mahihirap nating kababayan. Unahin po yung mga programa na nakakatulong po sa mga kababayan natin. Dapat po ay walang magutom. Importante po dito, tiyan ng bawat Pilipino. Importante po dito trabaho ng bawat Pilipino (First of all, no poor individual should be left behind. Let us prioritize programs that can help our people. No one should starve. It is important that every Filipino has a job),” Go told reporters after distributing aid for fire victims and indigent families in Novaliches, Quezon City.
He also expressed his support for the Marcos administration’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, food security, supply chain management, decreasing energy cost and energy security, reducing economic vulnerability from the pandemic by addressing healthcare issues and strengthening social protection.
“The more we should invest po sa ating healthcare system sa ngayon, infastructure development — trabaho po yan (in our healthcare system now, infrastructure development — this will generate jobs), and creating green economy, strengthening market competition, and promoting entrepreneurship – negosyo po lalong lalo na yung mga (business especially for our) MSMEs [micro small and medium enterprises],” Go emphasized.
For Senator Raffy Tulfo, he said the President did an “excellent job” so far without blaming anyone.
“If you’d ask me how would I rate him, I think he did an excellent job kung iko-consider natin na meron naman siyang mga minana na mga problema. Yan ang gusto ko kay PBBM, hindi siya naninisi (if we consider that he inherited many problems. That’s what I like about PBBM, he is not blaming anyone). He just continues doing what he thinks is good, best,” Tulfo said in a press conference in the Senate,” Tulfo said.
The lawmaker cited the President’s trips abroad which earned the country a lot of investment pledges and showed the latter’s concern for overseas Filipino workers.
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos suggested her brother to present a concrete program to ease the burden of Filipinos in their cost of living.
“Paano ibsan ang taas ng presyo sa gasolina, diesel, LPG, pagkain, lahat ng tumatama talaga sa ating mga mahihirap lalung-lalo na ang pagkain pagkat umaabot ng mahigit 60 percent ng gastos ng hindi masyadong swerte sa atin (How to ease the high prices of gasoline, diesel, LPG, food, which all affect the poor especially the food because it consumes 60 percent of the expenses of our indigents),” Marcos said in a recent interview after a speech during graduation rites at Laguna State Polytechnic University.
“I think we are in dire need of a cost of living program that will assuage the travails of inflation na kahit sinasabi nila bumagsak, numero lang yun eh. Sa bulsa natin at sa pagkain ramdam na ramdam pa rin ang kumakalam na tiyan (that even they are saying it went down, it is just a number. In our pockets and food, we can still feel hunger),” she added.
Among his top priorities, Marcos is optimistic that the country could sustain its momentum with its unemployment rate which further dropped to 4.3 percent in May this year from 6 percent a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. (PNA)
