As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) and four years after naming climate action as a priority of his administration, the Philippines is in its worst state since the days of the Covid-19 pandemic, environmental group Aksyon Klima Pilipinas said.
The group criticized the Marcos administration’s failure to live up to his promises as reflected in the government’s actions-or lack of outcomes-in the past 12 months, the group said.
‘After pledging in last year’s SONA for a swift and decisive execution of justice against everyone involved in the massive corruption in mismanaged flood control projects, his initiative has very little to show for it-billions of taxpayers’ money unrecovered and suspected individuals still on the run. Meanwhile, millions of Filipinos remain susceptible to extreme flooding,’ the group said.
Aksyon Klima said the government still subscribes to an unhealthy diet of traditional gray infrastructure projects, favoring corporate interests over the well-being of communities. What makes this worse is that many of these road and bridge projects are incorrectly tagged as climate solutions, as they have little to no contribution to reducing emissions or adapting to climate impacts, and would actually end up harming ecosystems and communities.
‘We also criticize his administration’s refusal to fully commit to transitioning away from fossil fuels-from the climate negotiations to the domestic level. Despite the first six months of 2026 reminding us of the impacts of continued dependence on dirty energy on our economy and society, the course of action has been performative at best-bold statements and legislative inquiries that went nowhere,’ the group said.
Despite these warning signs and precautionary tales, the administration refuses to learn lessons of the recent past and keeps implementing technocratic, bureaucratic, and elitist practices that are blind to realities on the ground, the group said. ‘We also demand that this Presidency reflect, in both words and actions, the need for protection and conservation of our ecosystems and natural resources, prioritizing the economic and social well-being of communities over private and political interests, and to protect the rights of its people against all threats-natural or anthropogenic, foreign or domestic.’