Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Marcos proposes to address the high prices of food by strengthening the agriculture sector — from crops to livestock, to fisheries — with the end goal of providing a “secure and strategic food supply” for the Philippines.

Research and development in farming and food production will be a priority as well as providing production loans to farmers, mechanizing farming processes to maximize efficiency, and establishing public post-production facilities that farmer cooperatives can manage.

Setting up more “modern bagsakan/bulungan or trading posts” where consumers could directly buy from producers like farmers at an affordable price is also part of the UniTeam tandem’s agenda.

Marcos wants to revive the oil price stabilization fund as a means to cushion the impact of the continuous rise in oil prices on the economy and the inflationary effects of “prolonged high oil prices.” While Marcos initially called for an excise tax suspension for oil companies he later backtracked and pushed for subsidies instead.

If elected, Marcos promises a wage increase for workers, but only after the economy has recovered from the effects of the pandemic.

Noting the expected opposition among businesses to a wage increase amid the country’s current economic situation, his administration will first ensure that trade is revitalized by reopening companies and getting people back to work.

When he was senator, Marcos had been pushing to increase the salary of public school teachers and vowed to keep this promise if he becomes president.

His running mate Duterte, meanwhile, wants to focus on programs in education, which she calls the “backbone of high-quality and better-paying jobs.”

The UniTeam tandem sees a necessary shift from “import-centric” to “production-centric” in terms of food supply in aiming for a zero poverty incidence for the Philippines.

A production-centric setup frees the country’s food requirements “from the dictates of market forces.” The result will not only be food sufficiency and security but also food sovereignty, making importation an option rather than a necessity.

Homelessness will be addressed by “speeding up and improving” the government’s existing efforts on this concern.

Asked how he plans to handle appointed cabinet officials involved in corruption, Marcos said if there is evidence to prove allegations of corrupt practices, he will allow the law to take its course.

He vowed to select only trustworthy people who “do not have a history or record” of corrupt practices as a first step to eliminating corruption.

In addition to “tightening our checks and balances” that would assure the proper handling of the nation’s coffers, Marcos will guarantee government efficiency to get rid of “fixers,” who encourage small-scale corruption.

A flagship agenda in the Marcos-Duterte platform is job generation, especially for new graduates and overseas Filipino workers repatriated during the pandemic.

The UniTeam tandem proposes to boost government support for micro, small, and medium enterprises. Apart from lowering taxes and granting tax holidays, their administration will invest more in the agriculture and tourism sectors, which are “job creators,” at the same time pushing industrialization and infrastructure development, with the manufacturing sector as the “primary contributor to job generation.”