00:01President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. opens his State of the Nation address with an unprecedented
00:06rebuke of his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Without explicitly mentioning China,
00:12President Marcos makes his lengthiest statement yet on national sovereignty during a sauna.
00:17President Marcos draws loud cheers during his sauna as he calls for the removal of
00:21systems loss charges from electricity bills. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin says the U.S.-led
00:26initiative Pax Silica is too dangerous to plug into the Luzon energy grid. And PPOP group SB19 is
00:33Philippine Tourism's newest ambassador. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. opens his State of the
00:46Nation address with an unprecedented rebuke of his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
00:56Tapit na ang paghain ng patong-patong na kaso dabang sa dating Speaker. Hindi ako pangulo ng aking
01:03pamilya. Hindi ako pangulo ng aking kaibigan.
01:08Meantime, Romualdez says in a statement he is ready to prove his innocence. The Office of the
01:13Ombudsman recently named the late congressman as the central figure in the multi-billion peso
01:18flood control corruption scandal. The antigraft body has been pursuing money laundering and plunder
01:23cases against him and said it is very close to filing the charges. Romualdez resigned as the
01:28House Speaker in September 2025 after being implicated in the budget mess.
01:35Without explicitly mentioning China, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. makes his lengthiest statement
01:40yet on national sovereignty in a State of the Nation address. Marcos points out what he calls
01:45a common threat to Filipinos' dignity and self-respect involving the West Philippine Sea.
01:50He reacts to China's recent AI-generated video that depicted the Philippines as a monkey and Chinese
01:55ships' use of water cannons on Philippine vessels.
01:58Of late, our very humanity has been called into question. Let me remind our friends and our detractors.
02:08Filipinos are a noble, kind, gracious, and great race. We are not greedy. We are not racists. We are not
02:18liars.
02:21We are Filipinos. We are Filipinos. And we do not yield.
02:27Marcos then highlights the 2016 Arbitral Award that affirmed the Philippines' sovereign rights
02:31to its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, largely the portion it calls the West
02:36Philippine Sea. He commands Filipino maritime frontliners such as Coast Guard and Naval officers as well as
02:42fisherfolk who he says embody the award.
02:44Mga kapwa kong Pilipino, sa ganitong mga banta sa ating siguridad, sa loob at sa labas ng bansa,
02:53tayo'y tumindig ng taas noo at magkapitbisig. Dahil tayo man ay magkakaiba sa maraming bagay,
03:02iisa lang tayong lahi. Tayong lahat ay Pilipino, Pilipino sa diwa, Pilipino sa dugo.
03:10Sa mga pang-aalipusta, hindi tayo matitinag. Sa manluluping, hindi tayo pasisiin.
03:24Consumer and energy sector issues figure among the highlights of President Marcos' second to the last
03:29State of the Nation address. Marcos draws loud cheers from the audience by calling for the removal of
03:34systems loss charges from electricity bills. He also calls for the amendment of the Electric
03:40Power Industry Reform Act, or EPIRA, a law that has long been criticized as unfair to consumers.
03:46Sa aking palagay, panahon na para tanggalin na natin ang systems loss na pinapasa sa consumer.
03:57We demand for the immediate amendment of the EPIRA
04:10Marcos then calls for a revisit of nuclear energy, cutting income taxes of some sectors,
04:15and reforming education to match new technologies. He speaks favorably of the controversial Pax Silica,
04:21a U.S.-led AI-centric technological hub planned for New Clark City in central Luzon.
04:26The Pax Silica industrial hub will create an ecosystem that will have AI at its core.
04:33It will bring quality jobs to our people, accelerate our industrial competitiveness,
04:38and revitalize our economy.
04:42Energy Secretary Sharon Garin says the U.S.-led initiative Pax Silica is
04:47quote, too dangerous to plug into the country's power grid.
04:50Pax Silica seeks to establish an over 1,600-hectare high-tech industrial hub in New Clark City,
04:56which could eventually require 3,000 megawatts. This is about 19% of Luzon's projected 2026 peak
05:03demand and nearly equivalent to the entire Visayas grid. Garin confirms Pax Silica cannot plug its full
05:09demand into the Luzon grid without exposing households and businesses to serious risk. Garin says,
05:15if you put it on the grid and then suddenly this 3 gigawatt demand will be lost, the grid will
05:20just
05:20shut down. The DOE Secretary adds, introducing a 3 gigawatt load tied to one industrial area could
05:26become a problem of grid stability. She says, it's too dangerous for our usual consumers, so there are
05:32ways to do it, but the primary concern is that we don't destabilize the grid because that will
05:36affect other businesses and households. Garin suggests having an effective separate ecosystem with
05:42its own power, water, and supporting infrastructure for the initiative.
05:47The Philippine Tourism Department announces its partnership with P-pop boy group SB19,
05:53referring to them as one of the country's finest representatives of Filipino culture.
05:57With the sold-out tours the group has mounted over the years, its fans from overseas book flights
06:02to the Philippines just to watch concerts live. Tourism Secretary Dita Angara Matay says,
06:07SB19 is giving people real reasons to visit the Philippines. That's the kind of reach we want
06:12to build on. They share the ambassadorship with fellow P-pop group Bini. SB19's designation comes
06:18just before its historic 2026 Lollapalooza performance. The Dungka hitmakers will be the
06:24first homegrown Filipino act to take the stage at a prestigious music festival on July 30 or early
06:29morning, July 31, Manila time.
06:33And that's today's wrap. I'm JC Gutinga. Thank you for watching. Click the link below for the full story.
06:38For more updates, download the Rappler app.
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