By Diego Morra
Speaking for more than an hour in his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA_) on July 28, 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos slammed public works contractors for “completing” 5,400 flood control projects that only worsened flooding nationwide but did not zero in on who was most responsible for constructing those projects—the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) during the incumbency of Secretary Mark Villar, now a senator.
It turned out that the 5,500 projects were a bunch of hyped sub-projects, like cleaning up canals and cementing many of them without regard to any comprehensive flood control plan for the regions or specific provinces, cities and towns. The recent disaster that claimed the lives of no less than 35 Filipinos should have spurred Marcos Jr. to stop bloviating and tag Villar for his mismanagement and perhaps his having been assigned by the unlamented ex-president Rodrigo Duterte to a task he was not prepared to handle. Worse, he was the same Villar who sat at the DPWH when the Villar-owned Primewater secured control of more than 300 water districts through joint ventures. Mark Villar now says he had nothing to do with the joint ventures. He appears to be another lawmaker struggling with common sense.
Marcos roared: “Mahiya naman kayo!” not “Mahiya naman sila.” The first statement appears to be directed at the lawmakers, who have been accused of pocketing up to 40% from public works, and he should have added the second to tag the unscrupulous contractors. He did not. So, the SONA should have been renamed SOFA, or the State of the Floods Address. Nonetheless, Marcos Jr. vowed to check on all these projects, including the bridges that collapsed, the huge spans under retrofitting and the abysmal failure of the DPWH to prevent congressmen and senators from meddling with purely engineering issues. Aside from concentrating on flood control (he was in the US to pay a visit to Donald Trump when disaster struck), he could have taken the occasion as the chance to blast the commissioners who were in their Sunday’s best listening to him at the Batasang Pambansa.
Of course, the Villars got it on jaw when Marcos Jr. assailed the incompetence of Primewater in providing safe water supply to the various water districts under its control. As the furious consumers in Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Quezon, Olongapo City, Iloilo, Negros and other provinces condemned the Villars, Primewater earned billions while the water districts ended up in the red. Apart from water woes, the Villar’s power distribution projects in Siquijor and Camotes Island were also roundly criticized for unreliable electricity supply. Marcos is supposed to be opposed to rentiers and the bureaucrat-capitalists like the Villars who amassed power and wealth through government contracts but he hasn’t thrown the books at them. It is good to know that the Las Pinas city government is now looking into the perennial tax amnesty for Villar companies.
For the millions of workers and peasants, the Marcos Jr.’s SONA ended up a too much of nothing since it did not address compensation for those devastated by the floods, did not cover the insane farmgate prices of agriculture products, the repeal of the Rice Liberalization Law (RLL) and the unremitting violations of human rights in rural communities. Neither did Marcos Jr. express any sympathy for the continuing demand of workers for the immediate P200 increase in the minimum wage and the P1,200 family living wage demanded by workers. Not a pip about the scandalous pay P50 increase in the minimum wage in Metro Manila, leading many organizations to express dismay at Marcos’ being part of the broad campaign of capitalists, their backers like Senators Joel Villanueva and Juan Miguel Zubiri, the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), the NEDA and various businessmen groups that promoted the usual lie that any pay increase will lead to company shutdowns. The last legislated wage increase was made in 1987 and companies profited since then while wages lagged behind the inflation rate.
The call of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) for the resumption of peace negotiations between the Marcos Jr. regime and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was never heeded and no mention was made about the peace talks, causing dismay among peace advocates that the administration would seriously abide by its pledge in the Joint Statement it signed with the NDFP on Nov. 23, 2023. PEPP stressed that the Philippine government had signed a raft of agreements with the NDFP but several administrations never pursued substantive discussions on the roots of the armed conflict and structural injustice. The armed conflict continues and the regime’s militarist wing has been sabotaging efforts for the discussions to go beyond exploratory talks and rise to the level of formal negotiations.
Curiously, the Marcos Jr. SONA did not dwell on the very serious implications of the purported negotiations at White House between Marcos Jr. and Trump that led to an agreement on tariffs. Of course, the usually lying Trump described Marcos Jr. as a tough negotiator but his toughness was not enough to win concessions from Trump. Surely, a 1% reduction from the earlier 20% tariff on Philippine export products is not a reason for the administration to crow about. Yet, the zero tariff on US cars, wheat, corn, pharmaceutical products and a slew of other commodities was a serious matter that should have merited an explanation from Marcos Jr. His earlier statement about the 19% tariffs on our products only justified that you can’t get everything that you want, and that phrase came from the Rolling Stones, Marcos Jr.’s cherished friends in the UK.
There is actually no trade deal between Marcos Jr. and Trump, just as there are no trade deals between the European Union (EU) and the US, or between Japan and the US. In fact, what have been agreed upon is the framework for further talks. Trump is notorious for talking through his hat and that, precisely, is what he did when he announced agreements. It turns out that Japan only extended loan guarantees and not $550 billion investments to the US. Similarly, the EU will not invest in the US any figure resembling $750 billion and the volume of fuel it imports from the US is measly. Nothing in black and white has been signed but the eager-beaver media hog Trump wanted to win everything. In the Philippine case, the US merely proffered investment in a Luzon railway system covering several ports and airports that handle US goods. The $1-billion pledge for security assistance and the construction of ammunition factories also favor US military deployment. In short, Marcos Jr. lost irretrievably. Forsooth, a tough negotiator. Thus, the SONA did not become SOTA, or the State of the Tariffs Address.
