THE SECOND State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr is mostly about Mindanao. I will convince you of this.
The a-little-more-than- hour presidential address of the is all but a message of inclusion, care, and direction, and speaks succinctly of Mindanao.
Why?
Let me begin to convince you that PBBM’s SONA contains the elements necessary for an expanding economy.
While there was a mention of our positive growth, both recorded and forecasted, the sense of direction as established in the address is very clear — the country will continue expanding to become a middle-high income economy.
Expansion is one thing, while growing is another. To expand is to bear the size, but to grow is not only to enlarge but to mature as well.
A growing economy needs the built capital including roads, bridges and ports for transportation and connectivity; the technological capital which refers to the new modalities and techniques to do things in a far efficient and effective way; and, the human capital which have the abilities and capacities to put to productive uses the built capital and bring into optimum use the technological capital. Don’t forget the natural capital which needs protection.
The shift from a growing economy to a mature economy therefore forebodes the abilities that the present state of affairs built upon the past, can bring closer to a desired future state.
The President’s SONA contains these.
The built capital, in the Build, Better, More Program understands the direction to connect places and islands to increase the flow of information and exchanges of people. Such that a reliable exchange of information offers a higher batting average for hitting the growth targets.
Mindanao has plenty to benefit from the SONA’s targets.
The agrarian emancipation law is a boon to the Mindanao agriculture where farmers are reeling on the loans to pay for fertilizers, and of the amortization.
With the law liberating the agrarian beneficiaries alongside the fertilizer support, in addition to the infrastructure connectivity via road constructions, and the marketing program under the Kadiwa — pretty sure, Mindanao takes a windfall of benefits as 6 in 10 labor are in Mindanao. They are sure to earn better income.
The hundred percent electrification target also behooves Mindanao’s massive advancements.
Fifty-one percent of the households without electricity are found in Mindanao, and the intention to provide hundred percent electricity by the end of the Marcos administration translates to more than 1 million households to enjoy electricity.
President Marcos also mentioned the climate change, and while there are mechanisms rolled-out to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change in the past, what we learned from yesterday’s SONA is the conjoining of the climate change in the expansion, moving forward and advancement of the nation.
In effect, the intersectionality of issues and concerns on water, food and nutrition, and energy are taken into full dimension in contrast to the usual mitigation and rehabilitation measures. This translates to plenty of lives and properties protected, and huge money saved from spending owing to the disasters and calamities that visit every year.
The greenlane for strategic investment, by its very name is strategic. Investors’ true asset is time.
The highest profit is earned when capital is poured at the proper time. A negative-profit-experience occurs when the expected revenue is not realized due to delayed permitting system; and PBBM addresses this bottleneck effectively. This means, more investment possibilities in the 40 ecozones in Mindanao.
And when all mechanisms and policies will fall fittingly in the holes of opportunities, then plenty of doors will be opened for the Philippines, more particularly in Mindanao.
Mindanao can take advantage of the blue economy, the water management program, the advances in welfare, the benefits of built capital, and sacrosanct of the digital technology, the gifts of nature for food production and for travel and recreation, as well as for energy generation. The LGU classification allows the chance to prove that the rich culture and tradition in Mindanao, the non-market asset, are evident in the Mindanao governance system.
While I was watching the SONA yesterday, I cannot help telling myself that we have plenty to benefit from the President’s direction. The SONA sets the tone for a more peaceful, beautiful, bountiful Mindanao.
