President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. said on Monday that investments in public infrastructures and in the capacity of our people — through food, education, health, jobs, and social protection have remained to be the top priority of his administration.
In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), the Chief Executive shared that his administration allocated almost 70 percent of the national budget to economic and social services.
"Investments in public infrastructure and in the capacity of our people—through food, education, health, jobs, and social protection—remain our top priority," Marcos said in his speech.
"Puspusan ang ating ginagawa upang pataasin ang produksyon ng ating ekonomiya. Pinapalago natin ang mga industriya. Dinadag-dagan natin ang mga imprastraktura, upang mas mapabilis ang daloy ng mga produkto at serbisyo. Higit sa lahat, pinapalakas natin ang kakayahan ng mga mamamayan upang mapaganda nila ang kanilang pamumuhay. Ito ang puno’t dulo ng ating Philippine Development Plan," he emphasized.
The PDP 2023-2028 is a plan for deep economic and social transformation to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on a high-growth path.
According to Marcos, a higher revenue collection will be critical in the country's bid to bolster public investments.
"Under our fiscal framework, we envision our tax and revenue efforts to further increase, to up to 16.9 percent and 17.3 percent by 2028," he noted.
He likewise mentioned the improvement of the country's revenue generation in 2022.
"From January to May, the Bureau of Internal Revenue posted record collections, amounting to 1.05 trillion pesos, an increase of almost 10 percent over the last year. For its part, the Bureau of Customs has also increased its collection by 7.4 percent for the first seven months of 2023, amounting to 476 billion pesos. Since July 2022, we have seen increased revenues from PAGCOR of 47.9 percent, and from the PCSO of 20 percent," Marcos said.
"On matters of the economy, there are many things over which we have no control. But over those where we do have control, we are doing everything we can," he reminded the public.
The President also asked for the continued support of Congress to enact into law the policies and reforms under the country's fiscal framework.
