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[Global Times Comprehensive Report] On the afternoon of the 22nd local time, Philippine President Marcos delivered his third State of the Union Address during his tenure at the House of Representatives Building in Quezon City, Metro Manila. The high food prices in the Philippines, the ban on offshore gaming companies, and the tense situation in the South China Sea became the focus of attention of all parties.

On July 22, 2024, local time, in Manila, Philippines, Philippine President Marcos delivered his annual State of the Union address in the House of Representatives. (Visual China)

Many foreign media have mentioned that Marcos' State of the Nation Address comes at a time when he and the Duterte family have "parted ways". Recently, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter and current Vice President Sara has withdrawn from the Marcos government cabinet. She will not be present when Marcos delivers his speech on the 22nd. The Philippine Star reported that according to a statement issued by the Philippine Vice President's Office, Sara will not watch Marcos' State of the Nation Address on TV or electronic devices that day.

According to the Philippine Star on the 22nd, at the beginning of the State of the Nation Address, Marcos promised to solve the problem of soaring food prices, especially rice. "Although the (Philippine economic) data is good, these figures are meaningless to our people who are facing the reality of high prices." According to reports, in recent months, the price of rice in the Philippines has hit a 15-year high.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said on the 21st that in Marcos' State of the Nation Address this year, economic issues such as inflation were the most concerned by the Filipino people, and more and more people criticized him for failing to fulfill his campaign promise to lower food prices. Data released by the Philippine National Statistics Bureau this month showed that the country's inflation rate in June was 3.7%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. However, a survey released by the Philippine polling agency Social Weather Stations (SWS) on the 19th showed that more than half of Filipinos believed that they were poor due to inflation, and this proportion rose from 46% (12.9 million households) in March to 58% (16 million households) in June.

Another move that has attracted the attention of the Philippine media is to ban all offshore gaming companies (PAGOs) from operating in the country. Marcos said that PAGOs have been involved in illegal areas such as financial fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, etc., and "the gross abuse and refusal to respect our system and laws must be stopped."

On the South China Sea issue, Marcos claimed on the 22nd that the so-called "West Philippine Sea" "is not just something we imagined, it is ours". According to the Philippine Star, the speech directly mentioned the tension in the South China Sea for less than 5 minutes. Marcos said that appropriate diplomatic channels and mechanisms "under a rules-based international order" "remain the only acceptable means of resolving disputes". Agence France-Presse said that Marcos did not directly mention China, but said that the Philippines "cannot give in" on the South China Sea issue.

According to the Philippines' GMA News Network, while Marcos was delivering his State of the Union address, multiple demonstrations were taking place. On the 22nd, the Philippine government deployed a large number of police forces outside the House of Representatives building.

The South China Morning Post quoted risk analysts as saying that Marcos' current ruling situation is "fragile" and economic problems are his "weakness", "which has lowered his approval rating". The Philippine Rappler website recently published an article saying that the State of the Union Address has always been a platform for the Philippine president to communicate in a one-way manner and publicize his own achievements in governance, but Marcos needs to do more than that this time. He also needs to eliminate people's doubts and uncertainties about his leadership ability. (Zhao Jueyun)