Today at 4:00 p.m. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. To ensure the public’s safety amid forecasts that Typhoon Egay will intensify into a super typhoon, as well as to save the public from difficulties arising from the scheduled transport strike, Malacañang has decided to cancel work in government offices and classes in public schools at all levels in the National Capital Region for today, July 24. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte also issued Executive Order No. 23, suspending classes in all levels, for both private and public schools in Quezon City.
The country awaits Mr. Marcos’ message, expecting him to highlight his accomplishments in the last year and to reveal his priorities for the future. As mentioned, there are several sectors of society that are saddled with various challenges, like the transport group MANIBELA that announced that it would conduct a three-day nationwide transport strike from Monday (24th) until the 26th of July.
The fisherfolk group PAMALAKAYA also said that they would raise the issues of reclamation and dredging in Manila Bay, and the continuous incursion of the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea, during this year’s SONA.
Ronnel Arambulo, PAMALAKAYA vice chairperson, said: “One year of the Marcos administration and this is the current state of the fisherfolk—enduring the threat of displacement and destruction of livelihood courtesy of corporate and foreign plunder. We continuously demand to President Marcos to stop all reclamation projects across the country, and uphold our rights in the West Philippine Sea.”
Social media users, in general, based on an informal survey done by rappler.com, are concerned about the high cost of basic goods and fuel. They continue to hope for salary increases and more benefits for government employees. The recent P40 increase in the minimum daily wage of NCR workers, according to labor groups, is not enough to cover the increase in the prices of basic commodities.
While there are surely plenty of important issues that the national government needs to address in the near and far future, one of the most pressing problems is climate change. From the start, President Marcos has shown a willingness to face the climate problems and the country’s environmental issues, but there are still many things to be done and plenty of gaps to be filled. But it’s a race against time, as far as this fight goes.
The issue of climate change covers many aspects, including environmental disasters like oil spills, global/ocean warming, water shortage, environment protection and preservation, management of natural resources including mining and deforestation, renewable/clean energy, pollution including plastic pollution and waste management, land use and reclamation projects, among others.