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Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 287
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THE LONG ROAD TO 2028 President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, a pivotal speech that marks the start of the Second Regular Session of the 20th Congress and signals the administration’s priorities for the remainder of his term. Government officials, lawmakers, and invited guests gathered at the House of Representatives after senators convened earlier in Pasay City before proceeding to the Batasan Complex for the joint session of Congress. The President outlined his final legislative agenda while responding to persistent concerns over inflation, governance, corruption, and public accountability. Last year’s Sona was remembered for As in previous SONAs, the Batasan red carpet showcased Filipiniana, Barong Tagalog, and indigenous handwoven textiles, with many guests using fashion to celebrate Filipino heritage and express various advocacies. Outside the complex, labor, sectoral, and civic groups marched along Commonwealth Avenue to press demands on wages, jobs, inflation, education, human rights, and other socio-economic issues. NONIE REYES/NONOY LACZA/BERNARD TESTA/ AARON FAVILA, AP
REFORMS IN TAX, POWER, GOVERNANCE TOP SONA
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By Samuel P. Medenilla
CCELERATING the momentum of his comprehensive reforms including the anti-corruption campaign of his administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday with several bombshell announcements including the looming filing of charges against his cousin, former House Speaker, Leyte Representative Martin G. Romualdez, as well as massive tax relief reforms and junking of the “systems loss” in electricity bills.
Marcos flipped the order of the issues he discussed in his previous Sona by starting with updates in his anti-corruption campaign, which gained massive public support and attention, while putting economic and foreign affairs goals and accomplishments at the latter part of his speech. Just minutes after starting his
speech, which ran for one hour and 25 minutes, the chief executive already announced that the Ombudsman will soon be going after Romualdez. Romualdez is facing plunder charges for his alleged involvement in acquiring about P56 billion of illgotten wealth from 2022 to 2025. See “Sona,” A2
AMRO: CONTINUED OIL PRICES VOLATILITY TO FUEL INFLATION By Andrea E. San Juan
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@andreasanjuan
VEN after it slashed inflation forecasts for the majority of Asean+3 economies, a regional economic think tank warned of brewing uncertainty on inflation as it sees “continued” volatility in oil prices if a renewed tension in the Middle East would intensify, alongside the “highly uncertain” El Niño. In its Quarterly Update of the Asean+3 Regional Economic Outlook, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (Amro) slashed the inflation forecast for the Philippines from 6 percent to 5.7 percent this year. However, its table of forecasts show that the Philippines would post the third fastest inflation within the Asean+3 bloc, which consists of 13 economies.
“As you can see from the news headlines, the situation in the Middle East is still in a very uncertain state. I think the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, of course, varies depending on the security situation. So I think the safe thing to say is that we’ll see continued volatility in oil prices,” Dong He, Chief Economist, Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office said at a virtual briefing on Monday. For his part, Allen Ng, Lead Economist at Amro, said there is uncertainty surrounding the outlook when it comes to inflation, especially if there is a “renewed tension” in the Middle East that could actually intensify and further add to inflationary pressures. Dong He, the chief economist of Amro, emphasized that economies such as Japan, Korea, See “Inflation,” A2
PBBM pushes 3 major tax reform measures By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Samuel P. Medenilla
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RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. pushed for a sweeping tax relief package, setting up a balancing act to cushion small businesses and the middle class from the lingering effects of the Middle East crisis while narrowing its fiscal deficit. “We have not forgotten Filipino workers, especially those in the middle class, as well as small businesses. We recognize that they, too, are bearing the burden of this crisis,” Marcos said in his fifth State of the Nation Address on Monday. Marcos placed tax reform at the center of his economic agenda for the administration’s final two years, saying that the government would pursue policies that balance economic growth and revenue generation with a fairer distribution of the tax burden. “To ensure the continued progress of the middle class amidst the linger-
ing effects of the crisis, we will pursue tax relief measures that promote growth, generate revenue, and advance equity toward socio-economic sustainability,” Marcos said. The President proposed three major measures: a higher personal income-tax exemption, the removal of corporate income tax for qualified small businesses, and a tax amnesty covering several types of unpaid national taxes and their corresponding penalties. Under the proposed reform, individuals earning no more than P350,000 annually would be exempted from personal income tax. This would raise the existing tax-free threshold of P250,000 by P100,000. “We will expand the income tax exemption threshold. More workers will be exempt from paying income taxes, including those earning up to P350,000 annually, Marcos said in the vernacular. See “PBBM,” A10
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 61.8410 n JAPAN 0.3780 n UK 82.5454 n HK 7.8858 n CHINA 9.1343 n SINGAPORE 47.9090 n AUSTRALIA 43.2949 n EU 70.4431 n KOREA 0.0424 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.4791 Source: BSP (July 27, 2026)