Marcos defends targeted relief programs, dismisses 'band-aid' criticism

Metro Manila, Philippines - President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. defended his administration’s recent rollout of targeted relief programs, including the zero-balance billing in government hospitals and the P20 rice initiative, saying these efforts are not short-term political moves but meaningful steps to directly improve lives.

Responding to questions on whether these initiatives are simply “band-aid” or populist measures meant to boost trust and approval ratings, Marcos rejected the notion.

“Hindi ganoon ang approach namin. We don’t work according to surveys, not really,” the President said.

[Translation: That’s not our approach. We don’t work based on surveys, not really.]

Instead, Marcos emphasized that the programs aim to directly address ordinary Filipinos’ day-to-day concerns–from long queues at PhilHealth, to costly medicines, and the additional burden of transport fares.

“Ask the student who now pays 50 percent less for his pamasahe. Ask the patient who now is willing to go under a kidney transplant because ‘yung gamot... libre na.”

[Translation: Ask the student now paying 50% less for his fare. Ask the patient now willing to undergo a kidney transplant because the expensive medicines are now free.]

“Those are the problems, and we are slowly solving them,” he added.

‘Benteng Bigas’ and agricultural reforms

When asked about the “Benteng Bigas” program, the president acknowledged that subsidies are still needed but he assured the public that such support will shrink over time as domestic agricultural production improves.

“It should not be that heavily subsidized... habang ‘yung production natin gumaganda, bababa nang bababa ‘yan,” Marcos said.

[Translation: It shouldn't need to be so heavily subsidized... as our production improves, the need for subsidies will go down.]

He pointed to key interventions such as reducing smuggling, closing hoarding warehouses, providing farmers with machinery, and pushing agrarian reforms, all of which were necessary before the program could be rolled out effectively.

“Ang katotohanan, gamitin na lang natin ‘yung bigas bilang halimbawa. ‘Yung dalawampung piso, ngayon lang namin nagawa dahil ang dami munang kailangang ayusin,” he said.

[Translation: To be honest, let’s use rice as an example. We could only achieve the P20 price now because so many things had to be fixed first.]

No shortcuts

While critics have labeled his recent pronouncements as short-term optics, Marcos reiterated that each policy addresses real and immediate concerns of the Filipino people.

He concluded that trust is best earned not through image-building, but through results people can feel in their daily lives.

“Anything we can do to make things cheaper, easier, more convenient, save time — all of those things are valuable to all of us,” he said.