ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio criticized President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address as a collection of promised band-aid fixes that fails to confront the fundamental causes of poverty, landlessness, and foreign domination plaguing the Filipino people.
“Ang SONA ni Marcos ay puno ng mga pangako sa papel pero walang tunay na solusyon sa mga ugat ng kahirapan ng ating mga kababayan,” Tinio said. “His claims of economic progress ring hollow when millions of Filipinos continue to suffer from low wages, lack of decent jobs, and inadequate social services.”
The ACT Teachers representative pointed out that while Marcos boasts of job creation, most of these are in precarious, low-wage sectors that do not provide security for Filipino families. The administration’s support for microenterprises, he noted, is merely a band-aid solution that does not address landlessness and the lack of genuine national industrialization.
“Walang anumang pagbanggit sa pagtaas ng sahod – talagang allergic ang Pangulo sa panawagang ito ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan,” he added.
“The President’s ₱20 per kilo rice promise remains a showcase limited to select KADIWA stores while food insecurity persists nationwide,” Tinio observed. “Real agricultural reform requires land to the tiller, higher farmgate prices, dismantling of cartels, and protection from import liberalization – issues completely ignored in the SONA.”
On water services, Tinio criticized the administration’s failure to address the root causes of water supply problems brought about by privatization and deregulation policies.
“Habang sinisisi ni Marcos ang utility mismanagement, hindi niya tinumbok ang privatization at deregulation na nagdulot ng mahal at hindi maaasahang serbisyo sa tubig,” he said. “Water is a basic human right, not a commodity to be profited from by private corporations. The people deserve public control over this essential service.”
On education, Tinio scored the conservative target for classroom construction. “Forty thousand classrooms by the end of his term is not enough compared to the acknowledged backlog of 150,000.” He criticized the administration’s failure to address chronic underfunding, low teacher salaries, and large class sizes.
“Habang pinupuri nila ang digitalization at academic recovery programs, hindi nila tinutugunan ang mababang sahod ng mga guro, ang kakulangan sa budget ng edukasyon, at ang mahigpit na pagkatali nito sa labor export policy,” he said.
The lawmaker also condemned Marcos’ false claims about defeating armed guerrilla groups, pointing out that armed conflict persists because the root causes – landlessness, rural poverty, and political repression – remain unaddressed.
“The President’s human rights protection rhetoric is belied by continuing extrajudicial killings, red-tagging, and attacks on activists,” Tinio stated. “His administration continues the militarization of the countryside while ignoring the cries for justice from victims’ families.”
Tinio criticized the administration’s foreign policy stance, noting that the “friend to all, enemy to none” position masks deepening dependence on the United States through military bases, exercises, and prepositioning of weapons systems while failing to assertively defend Philippine sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Tinio also noted that Marcos’ anti-corruption rhetoric, focused on flood control projects, was undermined by his directive that the DPWH take the lead in reporting on questionable projects. “This is more bark then bite. The rampant corruption in the name of flood control takes place right under the nose of the DPWH and cannot happen without their knowlegde if not collusion.”
“And how could he speak about corruption without addressing the stalled impeachment of the Vice President,” he added.
The ACT Teachers representative concluded that the 2025 SONA’s call for unity is meaningless without addressing the people’s demands for genuine agrarian reform, national industrialization, higher wages, job security, human rights, and genuine sovereignty. #
