SONA 2025: BBM must rejoin ICC, rise above the flood and SC encroachment

As President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, the public will concentrate on how he will deal with the muck we are all swimming in: from streets transformed into rivers and homes into underwater tombs by successive typhoons, to a Supreme Court that has effectively demolished the mechanisms for political accountability.

- 

Across the country, Filipinos are battered, not just by rains and floods, but by the sheer absence of a coordinated, timely response. The perception that the government is missing is glaring, strengthened by the President's absence. Crops have been destroyed, livelihoods drowned, people trapped for hours on NLEX, families crammed in evacuation centers and lives lost. To add insult to injury, we are called "abangers" while told to simply laugh it off and "chill." Congratulations! We've just unlocked a new level of government apathy! And now here comes the President, fresh from his US trip, bringing tales of "economic diplomacy." A one percentage point tariff reduction is now apparently worth dancing in the rain. What a great time to be alive! Unfortunately for the President, while his administration touts the so-called Luzon Economic Corridor and future US investments, any achievements he has supposedly had over the last three years, along with whatever political goodwill he had left, have now been washed away by the floods.

To make matters worse, on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Articles of Impeachment against Sara transmitted by the House to the Senate were unconstitutional. Surprised? Only if you still believe in fairy tales, or hope that a court stacked with Duterte appointees will act judiciously in a country where the rule of law is a moving target.