DAVAO CITY (PIA) – Dabawenyos are delighted and impressed by the clear and comprehensive address of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

Davao de Oro First District Representative Maria Carmen Zamora is optimistic that “we are headed in the right direction towards a secure and stable nation.”

This was her reaction to the message delivered by the President in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), July 24.

“Along with the broad and sweeping policies on support for agriculture and enforcement versus smugglers and hoarders, food security, improvement of logistics and infrastructure and water security, we are assured we are headed in the right direction towards a secure and stable nation,” Zamora said.

“I am ready to help the President make his dream of Bagong Pilipinas a reality,” he said.

Regional Director Annabelle P. Yumang of the Department of Health- Davao Region, meanwhile, said that the President’s SONA is very comprehensive.

“For the health sector, the message is clear in attaining Universal Health Care goals. He feels the difficulties and challenges of common Filipinos by highlighting the importance of access to quality health facilities. He has the heart for the Filipinos,” Yumang stressed.

On the other hand, Department of Education XI Regional Director Allan Farnazo said this administration is serious in its effort to put on track its priority on education by doing a learning recovery as a result of the disruption brought about by the pandemic.

“The SONA also shared some lessons learned during the pandemic such as the adoption of high breed and high technology and the inclusion of Alternative Learning System (ALS) and blended learning modalities,” he added.

According to him, a recalibration of the K to 10 plus capitalizing on the early grades literacy and numeracy have been some of the directions that this administration will pursue, and these shall be done by first ensuring that learners have the readiness to learn by beefing up the School Based Feeding Program (SBFP).

Building disaster resilient classrooms and provision for world class facilities have been identified as parts of the major focus of this administration, together with the efforts of involving the private sector. These are intended to make the Filipino learner ready for the world and be instilled with citizenship and patriotism as integral part of their education, he added.

Davao del Norte Chamber of Commerce president Rene Bongabong was impressed by the government’s move to establish Kadiwa Stores in the entire country.

“Impressive po ang 7,000 Kadiwa Store na established nationwide dahil ito po’y nagbibigay access sa  mga murang bilihin ng ating mga maliliit na kababayan… Sana madagdagan pa  ang mga Kadiwa Stores upang patuloy ang pagbaba ng presyo ng pagkain (The 7,000 established Kadiwa Stores nationwide is impressed as it can have access to low-priced products to ordinary citizens …and hope that more Kadiwa Stores will be added to continuously lower the price of food),” he said.

Bongabong said that of the major points of the SONA, the agriculture sector topic primarily got his attention “because this addresses food sufficiency issues and this is the sector that helps bring down prices of commodities.” (PIA Davao)