The President Bargained for Trade
—But Bartered Away the Filipino People
When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stood at the rostrum of the Batasang Pambansa on July 29 to deliver his State of the Nation Address, he told that the nation as “strong,” “resilient,” and on the “right track.” But across Commonwealth Avenue, on the same day, tens of thousands of Filipinos gathered for the People’s SONA (State of the Nation Address) to say what he would not: that the nation he describes, and the one we live in, are not the same.
This year’s PSONA wasn’t just a protest. It was a reckoning. And for many of us watching both speeches—one scripted and televised, the other shouted hoarse from the streets—the difference couldn’t be clearer.
The truth is this: the Marcos administration may be talking about economic growth, but it’s actively shrinking the dignity of our sovereignty. Peopl are witnessing a presidency willing to trade away not just material interests, but the safety and rights of Filipinos abroad—for the illusion of diplomatic relevance.
The One Percent “Win” in Washington
Let this note begin with the president’s recent trip to Washington D.C. There, Marcos Jr. met with Donald Trump, a former U.S. president currently attempting a political comeback and facing multiple federal indictments. The Marcos camp hailed the visit as a diplomatic success, particularly because the U.S. agreed to lower tariffs on Philippine exports from 20% to 19%.
Yes—it read that right. A single percentage point. That’s what the nation got. In return, the Philippines agreed to a zero percent tariff on American goods entering our country.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (2024), the United States is the Philippines’ second-largest export market, accounting for 15.6% of total exports. It’s a vital trade partner—but one that clearly walked away from this “deal” with the lion’s share of benefits. U.S. agri-products, pharma goods, and finished industrial commodities—often government-subsidized—now have tariff-free entry into a developing economy already struggling with supply chain instability and agricultural decline.
And here’s the kicker: there was no public consultation. No visible trade delegation that included labor groups, agricultural sectors, or economic justice advocates. The terms were presented to the nation as fait accompli—as if the people should all applaud a negotiation that left Filipino producers even more vulnerable.
In effect, Marcos negotiated against his own people just to upheld an order the people strongly detest.
No Voice for the Detained
Even more disturbing than the trade deal was what Marcos failed to say—not in Washington, and not during his SONA.
Not a single word was uttered about the growing number of Filipinos being detained and deported in the United States, many of them legal residents.
According to Human Rights Watch (2025), over 8,000 Filipinos have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between July 2024 and July 2025. Of these, 35% are green card holders or individuals with pending visa adjustments—meaning they have every legal right to remain in the U.S. Many are nurses, construction workers, caregivers—those who propped up the American economy during the pandemic and now face the cold machinery of mass deportation.
Why was this not raised in Washington? Why did our president not demand the same for our diaspora that Mexico demands for its nationals?
Under President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico created a $60 million USD Diaspora Defense Fund, deployed legal defense teams to U.S. states with high deportation rates, and used diplomatic channels to publicly denounce unjust detainments (Smith, 2024). We, on the other hand, sent a president who returned home without even mentioning our detained citizens.
If diplomacy is meant to protect nationals abroad, then what Marcos practiced wasn’t diplomacy. It was complicity.
A Government with Guns but No Medicine
Marcos’s SONA trumpeted infrastructure, digitalization, and “security.” But let’s follow the money.
According to the Department of Budget and Management (2025), the NTF-ELCAC (the government’s anti-insurgency task force) received ₱10.4 billion in the 2025 national budget—an increase despite ongoing controversies over red-tagging, human rights abuses, and zero public accountability.
Meanwhile, rural hospitals report drug shortages. Public schools across the country still operate in shifts because classrooms are overcrowded, with some holding over 60 students per class. Teachers go unpaid for months. Nurses leave the country because the government cannot offer them a living wage, only plaques of appreciation.
The regime pours billions into a bloated security apparatus that surveils environmentalists, rural health workers, and community teachers—but says it doesn’t have enough for universal healthcare or food subsidies.
But the People Are Not Waiting
Here’s where hope comes in. The People’s SONA wasn’t simply a protest against a failed state—it was a manifestation of what people-powered governance could look like.
From Lumad schools offering alternative education in conflict zones, urban poor communities asserting decent but affordable housing, landless farmers occupying idle lands amid threats, to climate brigades building solar-powered health centers, to overseas workers creating mutual aid networks for undocumented kababayans—Filipinos across sectors are already doing the work the government refuses to do.
And that’s true. These people always have been, making solutions amid risk and doesn't need an approval from the very rotten order who disagrees the alternative.
What Kind of Nation its Folk Want?
This is not about partisan anger. This is about moral responsibility and national dignity. The Philippines deserves leadership that protects its workers, both here and abroad. We deserve economic policies that nurture local industries—not surrender them to the highest bidder. We deserve diplomacy that lifts up our people—not treats them as bargaining chips.
Marcos Jr. had a choice. He could have returned from the U.S. and said: “I fought for our nurses. I stood up for our OFWs. I demanded fairness in trade.”
He said none of that. Because he did none of that.
But the people? They did. And they will continue to.
In this moment of rising authoritarianism—at home and globally—it is no longer enough to expect better from the state. We must build it ourselves.
From the streets. From the farms. From the classrooms. From exile.
The real state of the nation is the nation itself.
And the nation is not giving up.
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Sources
Amnesty International. (2025). Philippines: Escalating Human Rights Abuses in the Countryside. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/
Department of Budget and Management. (2025). General Appropriations Act FY 2025. Retrieved from https://dbm.gov.ph/
Human Rights Watch. (2025). U.S. Immigration Detention: The Case of Filipino Legal Residents. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/06/15/filipino-detention
Philippine Statistics Authority. (2024). Philippine External Trade Performance: 2023 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://psa.gov.ph/statistics Smith, A. (2024). Mexico’s Diaspora Defense Plan: A New Model for Migrant Advocacy. Foreign Affairs Journal, 103(4), 88–102.