FORMER Presidential Consultant Jose Alejandrino described President Bongbong Marcos Jr.‘s third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
In an exclusive interview with SMNI News, Alejandrino enumerated several major issues plaguing the Philippines that need immediate solutions.
First is rampant corruption, and a significant portion of our national budget goes into the pockets of greedy politicians.
“The corruption is our number one problem in this country. That’s why they have to keep borrowing money, why? Because a big chunk of our national budget goes to corruption,” said Jose Alejandrino, Former Presidential Consultant.
But what is even more disappointing is that Marcos Jr. did not mention any steps to address the blatant corruption led by his government.
“And in the SONA, the one thing that was missing is that Bongbong did not talk of corruption. He did not offer measures on how to curb corruption. He was silent on it. Why, I ask myself, that is our number one problem, why did you not talk about measures that you would take to curb corruption?” said Alejandrino.
Second is food security. According to Alejandrino, this was also not mentioned by Bongbong, even though it is one of the biggest problems facing the country.
“In his SONA, what did he talk about food security? Nothing, and yet food security is one of our problems and will be our biggest problem in the future,” he stated.
He added that while Marcos Jr. became the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, but he did not create a roadmap for food security.
“He spent a lot of time in agriculture, but he didn’t really give the roadmap on food security,” added Alejandrino.
Third is infrastructure. Alejandrino stated that there was no plan regarding this. And, If Marcos Jr. mentioned completed projects, they were not started by him.
“He talked a lot about infrastructure. In two years’, time, how many of those were started by him? Or were they started by his predecessors and he is just completing or improving on them?” exclaimed Alejandrino.
Fourth is foreign policy, which Alejandrino just laughed at.
“And foreign policy, what did he talk about? He said we’ll continue to negotiate. So, what is that? Is that your foreign policy, you’ll continue to negotiate? You know all of this, his SONA is empty, it’s empty,” he added.
Lastly, the rising crime rate in the country.
“Crime. Forbes magazine in July 2024 said Manila is the 5th Riskiest City for tourists in the world,” he exclaimed.
For the former presidential consultant, if the Marcos administration continues to neglect the main issues of the country, like those mentioned, the crime rate in the Philippines will continue to rise.
“Yes, of course, you know when the crime rate will only worsen when poverty and hunger increase because people are fighting to survive. So, they would tell themselves, I’ll take the risk of stealing or robbing because if I die, I will die anyway of poverty and hunger. Okay, they have no choice,” he ended.
