Philippine Equity Strategy: SONA 2026: Agenda centered on cost relief

Research evidence excerpt

Philippine Equity Strategy: SONA 2026: Agenda centered on cost relief

Global Research

28 July 2026ab

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Equity StrategyPhilippine Equity Strategy

SONA 2026: Agenda centered on cost relief Philippines

John Te, CFA

Analyst

john.te@ubs.com

Household costs drive Marcos' policy priorities

+632-8784 8814

President Marcos’ penultimate SONA took a more interventionist and consumer-focused

Mica Abaquitatone, emphasizing anti-corruption enforcement, cost-of-living relief, and energy

security. Most notably, he called on Congress to eliminate long-standing utility system

mica.abaquita@ubs.com

loss pass-through charges. He also reaffirmed the push into higher-value manufacturing +632-8784 8827

industries while expanding initiatives in food security, education, healthcare and

transport.

Anti-corruption crackdown and infrastructure audit. Marcos pledged to

intensify anti-corruption prosecutions involving high-profile figures, including

political allies. Nearly P25bn has been frozen and over P800m returned to the

Treasury. He also cited DPWH reforms, including project reviews, price

benchmarking and civil-society oversight.

Power affordability. Marcos called for immediate amendments to EPIRA to

prohibit distribution utilities from passing system loss charges and related VAT to

consumers. UBS analyst Mica Abaquita notes full utility absorption of system losses

is uncommon globally, suggesting an alternative cost-recovery mechanism could

be more likely. System loss charges account for roughly 5% of average retail

electricity bills. Marcos also proposed the Sariling Kuryente Act to simplify

household solar and battery storage adoption. The government is targeting nearly

10GW of power projects and over 1.7GW of storage by 2028, while advancing