By Shan Kenshin Ecaldre
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — “Empty words. Pretty lies. No backbone.” This is how Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Timog Katagalugan (Bayan-TK) described Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA).
In an interview with Bulatlat, Bayan-TK spokesperson Lucky Oraller minced no words: “We are deeply dismayed. The President once again chose lies over truth, illusion over reality.”
Marcos Jr. claimed that the country’s economy is “continuing to grow” and that job creation has been “on the rise.” But Oraller quickly called out the disconnect between those claims and the lived experience of workers across Southern Tagalog.
“If the economy is truly growing, why do workers still suffer from low wages? Why do so many remain unemployed, underpaid, or stuck in contractual labor?” he said.
In the region alone, Bayan-TK noted that thousands of workers remain in limbo, floating from one short-term contract to another, with no security of tenure, union rights, or dignified pay. Meanwhile, prices continue to rise and hunger continues to stalk the poor.
Anti-corruption? Just for show
Another point Marcos harped on was his administration’s supposed crusade against corruption, even calling out irregularities in flood control projects. But Orellier said this is mere lip service.
“He talks about corruption, but refuses to hold the most corrupt accountable. Look at Vice President Sara Duterte—clear evidence of fund misuse, yet nothing has happened.”
Oraller pointed out how despite public outrage and congressional probes into Duterte’s confidential and intelligence funds, the Marcos administration has chosen to shield its allies rather than seek justice.
“Even the Supreme Court has weighed in, and still, no action. It’s the President himself who is standing in the way of accountability,” he said.
Land reform in name only
Marcos Jr. also claimed progress in agrarian reform, citing the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). But for Bayan-TK, these “accomplishments” are decorative at best.
“He talks about land distribution, but there is still no genuine land reform. No real support for our farmers,” said Oraller.
Worse, he added, Marcos’s push for foreign investments in agriculture and infrastructure is driving land grabbing and displacement. In Southern Tagalog, farmers and indigenous communities continue to lose land to corporate projects masked as development.
Marcos selling out the Filipino people
Beyond local policy, Bayan-TK accused Marcos Jr. of betraying national sovereignty, pointing to new trade terms with the United States that slap tariffs on Philippine goods while granting American imports more freedom.
“This is economic surrender. While our people endure disasters and hunger, Marcos hands over our economy on a silver platter to foreign interests,” said Orellier.
He further criticized Marcos’s call for investors to “Invest in Filipino,” calling it a misleading catchphrase that only opens more doors for exploitation, land conversion, and displacement.
The true state of the nation
For Bayan-TK, the truth was never at the rostrum inside Batasang Pambansa, it was on the streets. Oraller pointed to the Laban Timog Katagalugan Caravan, a regional campaign that gathered communities to highlight their real conditions and demands.
“What we saw in the SONA was not the state of the nation, it was a performance. The real story is told by the hungry, the landless, the jobless, the displaced. And their voices are growing louder,” he said.
As far as the group is concerned, Marcos Jr.’s polished delivery “could not mask the stench of a corrupt, pro-elite, and foreign-subservient regime.”
People’s unity as response
In response to what they called the “anti-people and anti-truth SONA,” Bayan-TK called for continued mobilization, solidarity, and resistance across sectors.
“We can’t expect change from the top. It must come from the people themselves, uniting, struggling, and reclaiming their rights,” said Oraller.
In the end, Bayan-TK said the message is clear: real change will not come from lies dressed as policy, it will rise from collective action. (AMU, RVO)
