Philippines’ Marcos uses national address to promise relief, but funding questions loom

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr used his 2026 State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday to promise relief from taxes, electricity charges and high rice prices, while pledging to pursue corruption cases linked to a flood-control scandal that has battered his administration.
But while analysts said the one-and-a-half-hour speech addressed issues Filipinos had expected Marcos to confront, they questioned how the government could afford the handouts and why he announced no austerity or…