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Analysis: Philippines Marcos' 5th SONA must address public's anger over corruption and economy
The flood control scandal and President Marcos’ bitter quarrel with VP Sara Duterte have polarised the country, with both camps accusing each other of corruption
- PUBLISHED: Fri 24 Jul 2026, 12:16 PM UPDATED: Sat 25 Jul 2026, 10:56 AM
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's 5th State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, July 27, may require more positive spin than usual, analysts said, as the Philippine leader seeks to deflect attention from what they describe as the country's biggest corruption scandal—one he inadvertently set in motion during last year's Sona when he told politicians in attendance, many of them his allies, to "have some shame."
The flood control scandal and President Marcos’ bitter quarrel with his vice president has polarised the country, with both camps accusing each other of corruption.
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Vice President Sara Duterte had been impeached by the Marcos-dominated House of Representatives while the impeachment complaints Marcos were dismissed. Duterte is now being tried by the Philippine Senate whose guilty verdict would effectively eliminate her from the next presidential elections in 2028.
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Some of those who were eventually investigated for anomalous billion pesos flood control projects revealed they did it with the president’s full knowledge and participation. Marcos has consistently denied the allegations.
Real economic situation
Progressive groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), meanwhile, challenged the Marcos government to address the country’s real economic situation and not merely trumpet his government’s supposed achievements in the past year.
“Clearly, one of the legacies of the Marcos presidency is not making the Philippines more developed as an economy, which it desperately tries to depict with its delusional upper-middle-income status, but rather causing greater destitution and more suffering among the Filipino people,” Bayan said in a press briefing on Friday.
The alliance said they will expose the deception that Marcos is sure to peddle about the Philippine economy and make him accountable for the worsening misery of Filipinos.
Bayan said the Philippines had been hit especially hard by the war in the Middle East, causing record-level inflation, fuel price increases, unemployment, soaring electricity rates and unprecedented currency value dives in the last six months.
Pump prices of diesel have jumped by 55 per cent, gasoline by 66 per cent, kerosene by 97 per cent, and LPG by 40-50 per cent. Philippines has the second-highest pump price of gasoline and the third-highest pump price of diesel in the region.
Despite being given special powers to suspend taxes to stabilize prices, Marcos refused to do so, saying his government needs the tax proceeds for social services such as cash incentives to sectors most affected by the war.
Meanwhile, electricity rates have increased by around 22 per cent, with overall electricity inflation climbing to 12 per cent year-on-year in June, the highest in three years. Nationwide, the Philippines’ average power rate had become the most expensive in Southeast Asia.
Greater poverty
On July 1, the Marcos government was given a shot in the arm when the World Bank classified the Philippines as an “upper middle-income” economy. Marcos hailed the reclassification, saying the world has noticed his government’s efforts and more investments and jobs will soon start coming in.
Social indicators, however, show Filipinos are increasingly suffering economically under his government. The national average daily cost of living has climbed to P1,305 (Dh79), nearly double the minimum wage even in the country’s capital and more than thrice in the poorest Muslim Mindanao region.
Jobless workers swelled by 440,000 in the past year, including the nearly 10,000 overseas Filipino workers who lost their jobs because of the war in the Middle East.
A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey indicated the number of Filipinos who consider themselves poor, ballooned by around 3.2 million in the past year. Similarly, the number of people who experienced involuntary hunger jumped by 2.1 million during the same period.
People’s protest; People’s Sona
Meanwhile, massive rallies throughout the Philippines are expected to greet Marcos’ Sona on Monday. The main protest would be along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, adjacent to where Marcos would be delivering his annual report to the nation.
The local governments of Quezon City and Manila have already declared class suspensions in anticipation of traffic gridlocks on Monday.
Bayan will again lead their annual “People’s SONA,” to denounce corruption, human rights violations, and economic hardships under the Marcos government.
The alliance said they will expose the deception that Marcos is sure to peddle about the Philippine economy and make him accountable for the worsening misery of Filipinos.