Marcos admin holds first Cabinet meeting

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. led the first Cabinet meeting of his administration on Tuesday, July 5.

The meeting was scheduled at 9 in the morning, with Vice President and Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte leading the opening prayer.

In his remarks, Marcos said his economic team would brief them regarding the present state of the country's economy.

"I ask the what we call the economics group, which is the Secretary of Finance, the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Governor, and the NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) to give us a briefing on the general situation economically because I think we can all understand that the most important area that we will have to deal with would have to be the economy," Marcos said.

"The central policy actually that everybody else would be following will be that set out by our economic managers. So I ask the economic team to give us a briefing," he added. 

In a Facebook post, Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo said Marcos has dismissed the idea of reducing government personnel in order to save funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"We don't want anyone out of [a] job at this point," Marcos was quoted as saying by Tulfo. 

The President has been "carrying on the discussion extremely well," added Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra. 

"He is knowledgeable, organized, and very sharp," Guevarra told reporters. —KG/VBL, GMA News