Pimentel says Marcos should give detailed report about agriculture in SONA
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday said President Marcos, Jr. should give a more detailed report about the agriculture situation as concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA)
“President Marcos should double the content on agriculture in his State of the Nation Address because he is reporting both as a President and as a secretary. He should have a detailed report on that. Generally speaking, there is no improvement (in the prices of agricultural products)...most of them are rising,” Pimentel told dzBB.
He reiterated his call to Marcos to focus on “gut issues” in his SONA which would be more relatable to ordinary Filipinos.
“I hope he talks about the state of the Filipino families. Not those families who live in Forbes Park but the normal, average Filipino families. I am sure the President would start his speech by discussing the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and foreign direct investment,'' he said.
''There may be an increase in the growth rate of the economy but who is benefitting from it? That’s what he should report on,” he added.
Pimentel said that the state of the nation is “worrisome.”
“It is alarming, we should be alert. Now, the state of the nation is worse than last SONA…Let us be vigilant and let us get our act together,” he said.
“There are plenty of allegations of corruption. There are many fiascos on wasting money. It’s like many people are growing horns,” he said.
He said that Marcos should be stricter with his subordinates.
“He does not have a constitutional duty to flatter us. He should just explain the real state of the nation. If he couldn’t control the people under him, he should tell them off. Give them an offer. Tell them ‘All of you should obey otherwise I will be stricter this time’. Let’s say he said ‘three strikes and you’re out’, this time it should be ‘one mistake and you’re out’,” he said.
Pimentel added that the President should also talk about the West Philippine Sea situation.
“He should discuss that since he has access to intelligence reports…he should tell the citizens what is happening in the West Philippine Sea. Are there improvements, negotiations or threats there? Then he should connect it to the issue about EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation) sites,” he said.
“Please explain why did we expand the access of the US military to the Philippines. Why did we add four more EDCA sites? Why? What for? Instead of hosting bases, we should host talks. Anyway, that’s the role we want our country to have and the Philippines is a melting pot,” he said.
Pimentel believes that Marcos should not mention the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which creates the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
“He didn’t even focus on it during his first SONA, and now in his second SONA, he will emphasize it? What’s worse is that the MIF took over the other priority measures he mentioned in his first SONA. It just overtook them out of nowhere,” Pimentel said.
“It would be hard for President Marcos to boast about this. If he talks about how the MIF became a law, which he didn’t even mention in his first SONA, then the second SONA is useless. It means that the priorities aren’t being discussed in the SONA, just the other ideas that are overtaking…I don’t really know if this is really an achievement. I have my doubts about the future of the Maharlika Investment Fund,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
