SONA 2026: What did workers want to hear from Marcos?

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had just delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA), but were members of the public satisfied with his speech?

In a 24 Oras report on Monday, tricycle drivers were using an analog television to watch Marcos’ SONA from their Villa Beatriz terminal in Quezon City.

The first thing they wanted to hear was Marcos’ plans for the transportation sector. When Marcos made mention of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, one of the drivers could be seen exclaiming that they did not receive that particular aid.

One of the tricycle drivers said that they had hoped to hear more about plans to lower the price of petrol products, especially with another hike looming.

However, some of the tricycle drivers were pleased with Marcos’ call to remove the systems loss charge in the energy bill.

The President’s announcement that former speaker Martin Romualdez will soon face charges in relation to the flood control scam also drew positive reactions from the tricycle drivers.

However, one of them believed that there were more personalities implicated in the corruption mess that need to be charged.

Even for laborers who did not watch the SONA because they were at work, they too, wanted an end to corruption.

Meanwhile, a group that is lobbying for the legalization of medical marijuana also wished that Marcos would include their cause as part of his legislative agenda.

“Maraming pasyente ‘yung nahihirapan para magkaroon ng access para dito bilang gamot at sapat na po ang siyensya at ebidensya para hayaan ito bilang isang gamot,” lawyer Henry Enaje of Med Cann PH said.

(Many patients are having a hard time to get access to this as medicine, and the science and evidence are enough to allow this as medicine.) —Jean Mangaluz/RF, GMA News