With the anniversary of this Administration quickly approaching here are multiple choice answers to questions you may have always wanted to ask:
1. How would you characterize the Marcos Presidency of the last 9 months?
- Well travelled.
- Busy, busy, busy.
- A stealth Government.
- What you hear is not what you see.
2. What is the greatest achievement of this Government so far?
- A 32 million electoral mandate
- A pivot back to the U.S.
- A Presidential couple so in love.
- Let me think.
3. Greatest failure?
- Wasting a 32 million mandate
- Not minding the store.
- Lethargy.
- Corruption.
4. What advise would you give this Administration?
- Stop aiming for home runs, focus on hitting singles.
- Good governance is not about good policy but the execution of good policy.
- Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Do the hard and dirty work that goes into building a nation.
- Walk the walk, not talk the talk. Humanize our economic problems as in inflation is not an economic number, it is one less meal a day for many Filipinos.
5. What are the falsehoods of this Government?
- The Maharlika Investment Fund is the silver bullet that will save this nation.
- Presidential trips bring in billions to the country.
- A Php 14 trillion national debt is “manageable”. I estimate the interest on this debt is some 12% of our National Budget, larger than the budget allocations of all departments except possibly DepEd’s; and growing faster.
- Economic growth will wipe out our debt.
6. What are the memorable quotes of this Administration, (more or less)?
- “The Philippines will grow its way out of debt. There is no need to sell Government assets like PAGCOR and NAIA”- DOF Sec. Diokno when he assumed office (In 2022 we grew by 6% but so did our debt by almost Php 1 trillion).
- “The Maharlika Fund is the best thing since sliced bread and it is all the President’s idea.” – Our economic managers.
- “The Maharlika Fund presented by our economic team is a mess.” – Rep. Stella Quimbo, co-author of the revised bill, when presented with the first draft.
- “P20/kg rice is just around the corner.”
7. What have you always wanted to ask but never did?
- How has our economic growth helped the poor?
- What does the President’s Private Sector Advisory Council really think of the Maharlika Fund?
- What does the President do during and after office hours?
- Who is running the country?
8. What is the greatest risk to our nation?
- Climate change and drugs.
- A Presidential family dynasty.
- The Maharlike Investment Fund (MIF).
- The loss of our institutional checks and balances; the politization of our economic managers.
- An uneducated population.
9. What will the Philippines look like in 2030?
- A nation of over 120 million barely educated, barely healthy Filipinos.
- A sovereign debt approaching P20 trillion equivalent to today’s GDP.
- A country with deadly heat and destructive storms.
- A nation where clean water could cost more than gas.
10. What does the Philippines need most now?
- Much less corruption.
- A more vocal private sector.
- A working leader with an economic strategy.
- A few people to be hung from a lamp post.
- Prayer.
11. What can our young look forward to?
- A call center job.
- A green card.
- Getting drunk on weekends.
- Not much.
12. What do we tell our children?
- Suck it up
- Choose your leaders well, be engaged.
- Care for your countrymen.
- Good luck
Heneral Lunacy 