In the December 2023 report of the Philippine Statistics Authority, the poverty incidence during the first semester of 2023 was 22.4 percent, or equivalent to 25.24 million Filipinos.
These Filipinos, to include many families in the Cordillera, have a per capita income that is insufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs.
PSA reported that a family of five members will need at least P13,797 a month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs.
At that time, the minimum daily wage in the Cordillera was at P405, which means that a breadwinner in the family had a monthly wage of around P12,150.
The last quarter of 2023 also saw how thousands of farmers in this highland region and in southern Mindanao suffered from huge losses due to unsold produce caused by oversupply in the local markets, which, according to them, was aggravated by the unabated smuggling of temperate vegetables, especially from China.
These and more national concerns will continue to bother millions of Filipinos who up to now are pinning their hopes on the campaign promise of the Marcos administration to bring this nation and Filipinos to greater heights.
And while the campaign promise of the President to bring down the price of rice to P20 a kilo remains unfulfilled and almost impossible to achieve, this administration will launch its own branding by adopting the “Bagong Pilipinas” with its grand launching today, Jan. 28, in Manila.
As envisioned by the Marcos administration, Filipinos need to possess qualities that are essential in building a better future for the Philippines.
The President has identified several key qualities essential for the Bagong Pilipino which include discipline and punctuality; prudence in spending; continuous learning and growth; patience and emotional maturity; integrity and honesty; compassion and social conscience; discerning truth from misinformation; stewards over natural resources; faith and spiritual development; and unity and bayanihan spirit.
In sum, the new branding summarizes the administration’s ultimate objective, which is “no one Filipino hungry or left behind.”
Ahead of the grand launch of the Bagong Pilipinas, the country is not short on critics and skeptics, as the majority of Filipinos can testify that even the simple campaign promise of the President has not been achieved, almost two years since he assumed the highest elective post in the land.
But allies of the administration want Filipinos to give this new brand of governance and leadership a chance, as it focuses on implementing an all-inclusive plan for economic and social transformation.
The Marcos government, for its part, explained the Bagong Pilipinas is characterized by a “principled, accountable, and dependable government reinforced by unified institutions of society, whose common objective is to realize the goals and aspirations of every Filipino.”
With four more years at the helm, Filipinos just hope the Marcos government will fulfill whatever it aims to achieve with its promise of new governance and leadership.
And nothing is impossible, especially if this government fulfills its campaign promise to lower the price of rice to P20 a kilo.
April 30, 2024