MANILA, Philippines – For the past decade, guests attending the Philippines’ annual State of the Nation Address have resembled a Hollywood premiere.
Lawmakers and government officials showed off their flashy outfits and praised the designers as they made their way into the halls of Congress to hear the president’s report.
Opposition politicians and public figures often use the opportunity to flaunt opposing slogans and images emblazoned on their clothing.
But ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s third speech on Monday, the House of Representatives banned such attire.
“Today is not a day for protests,” House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, whose office is tasked with enforcing the orders and decisions of the House, told reporters earlier this month.
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march to Congress in heavy July rains as President Marcos Jr. delivers a speech.
About 22,000 police officers have been deployed to keep protesters away from parliament.
While President Marcos Jr. is expected to boast about progress in implementing economic policies focused on building infrastructure and attracting foreign investment, the protests come amid growing public frustration over inflation and slowing wage growth.
A Pulse Asia Research poll released earlier this month found 72 percent of Filipinos said curbing rising prices of basic goods should be the government’s top priority, ahead of low wages, poverty and unemployment.
The same poll showed Marcos Jr.’s approval rating fell five points from March to 52 percent.
The address itself has also attracted criticism because of its cost.
The government has budgeted 20 million Philippine pesos ($342,000) for preparations, including meals for more than 2,000 guests, the most expensive ever for a state of the nation address.
Renato Reyes Jr., from BAYAN, the coalition of activists leading the protests, criticised the “insensitive staging” of the event.
“The true character of a nation is not what is said on stage, but what is felt in the streets from the perspective of ordinary people,” Reyes told Al Jazeera.
Marcos Jr. has promoted infrastructure and foreign investment as key tools to boost the economy.
He touted his administration’s track record of launching 185 major infrastructure projects worth $162 billion and securing foreign investment commitments worth $14.2 billion.
He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) economic growth forecasts for 2024 and 2025 are 6 percent and 6.2 percent respectively, significantly higher than those for neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia.
Economic analysts give Marcos Jr. mixed reviews.
“I believe the Marcos administration acted quickly and got off to a strong start in the last two years,” National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said last week.
Meanwhile, the Makati Business Club said last week it will fast-track reforms in skills development, governance and energy infrastructure to “deliver on these investment commitments.” [a] reality”.
The Ibon Foundation think tank argues that rising infrastructure spending and foreign investment have coincided with manufacturing falling to a 75-year low of 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), making the government’s touted economic figures misleading.
Marcos Jr.’s policies have “benefited a few companies but have not led to broader national development,” Ibom’s Africa executive director Sonny told Al Jazeera.
Africa added that the country’s “crude indicators of economic activity say nothing about how the benefits of that activity are distributed, which is why more direct indicators of poverty and hunger are so important.”
This month, independent pollster Social Weather Stations reported that the self-assessed poverty rate had risen 12 percentage points since March to 58 percent, with 3.1 million new households falling into poverty, the highest level in 16 years.
“The Marcos Jr. regime has grossly exaggerated economic growth to distract attention from more direct indicators of the well-being of its people, which clearly show growing poverty and hunger,” Africa said.
Inflation so far this year is at 3.5%, within the government’s target range of 2 to 4%, but workers are demanding further wage increases.
A few weeks before his State of the Union address, President Marcos Jr. approved a 35 peso ($0.60) increase in the minimum wage in Metro Manila per day.
Umbrella union Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Movement) slammed the increase as an “insult”.
“Workers need a living wage. They give us pennies, not enough to buy a kilo of rice,” KMU secretary-general Jerome Adonis told Al Jazeera.
President Marcos Jr. also faces political risks following the collapse of his alliance with Vice President Sara Duterte, who resigned last month from her posts as education secretary and deputy chair of the counter-insurgency task force.
Ms Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, will not attend Mr Marcos Jr’s speech following the collapse of a deal between the Philippines’ two biggest political forces.
University of the Philippines professor Temario Rivera said the alliance was doomed from the start because each clan had competing strategic interests for dominance.
Rivera said former President Rodrigo Duterte always believed his daughter would be a better leader than Marcos Jr.
Marcos Jr. has not commented on Duterte’s decision to step down from his cabinet other than to say it was his own, and is not expected to address the growing conflict with Duterte’s family in his speech.
Meanwhile, human rights group Karapatan has lamented the lack of mention of human rights issues in past State of the Union addresses.
The University of the Philippines’ Dahas Project, which monitors the drug war, has documented 712 drug-related killings committed by state agents and hit men under Marcos Jr.’s administration, despite his pledge to make his predecessor’s brutal campaign against drug traffickers “bloodless.”
Last May, President Marcos Jr. ordered the creation of a “super body” for the protection of human rights to “maintain and strengthen” the gains made under the United Nations Joint Programme for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
Karapatan’s Cristina Palabay said it would be “foolish” to expect Marcos Jr. to take human rights seriously this year.
Marcos Jr. likes to “deliberately whitewash the situation while projecting a sanitized image to the international community,” Palabay told Al Jazeera.
The Duterte and Marcos clans also differ over international alliances, with the former maintaining friendly ties with China and the latter welcoming an expanded U.S. military presence in the Philippine archipelago.
In his speech, President Marcos Jr. is expected to reiterate support for U.S. involvement in the Philippines’ territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
In contrast, Duterte’s camp has refused to condemn China’s sweeping territorial claims or aggressive actions against Philippine ships.
U.S. and Philippine officials are scheduled to meet on July 30 to discuss the upcoming General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), a pact that will strengthen intelligence sharing between the two countries.
Rivera said that although the divisions between the two camps have weakened their political bases, each side still has strong support from their respective foreign allies.
Rivera said Marcos Jr. was in a stronger position overall because “the local political culture, deepened by controversies related to the West Philippine Sea dispute and the activities of some Chinese, works against President Duterte.”
Rivera said Marcos Jr. has emphasized the traditionally strong pro-American sentiment instilled during the colonial era and “in response has promoted a military alliance that is primarily led by the United States.”
