Flood control, the rising cost of living and government accountability are the issues Filipinos want President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to address in his State of the Nation Address (SONA), according to a year-long Facebook sentiment analysis by Capstone Intel Corporation.
The conversations also showed growing public frustration over fuel prices, concern for the safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East, and lingering questions about whether the government’s anti-corruption drive is leading to real accountability.
Flood control topped the list by a wide margin. It accounted for 43.8 percent of all SONA-related discussions, with 1,668 Facebook posts generating nearly 572,000 engagement points, the highest among all issues tracked by Capstone Intel.
More than the flooding itself, people wanted to know who would be held accountable. The report said online discussions have shifted to the controversial flood-control budget insertions, with many users looking for charges, recovered funds or convictions instead of updates on investigations.
Questions also remain over whether flood-control projects are actually working. Flood-control posts posted the highest “Haha” reaction share at 58.2 percent, which the study said reflects public skepticism rather than amusement in Philippine political discussions on Facebook.
The same pattern showed up in the year’s most engaging Facebook post. A video of Marcos saying flood-control measures “appear to be working” registered an engagement score of 71,615.1. Of the post’s 412,823 reactions, 91 percent were “Haha” reactions.
The cost of living also figured prominently in the conversations. Although inflation was not tracked as a separate issue, discussions about fuel prices repeatedly turned into conversations about household expenses and the economy. The announcement of a ₱2,000 cash aid for households affected by rising fuel prices drew 32,118 Angry reactions, the highest for any post in the database.
Meanwhile, discussions involving the Middle East conflict, fuel prices and OFW protection generated the highest average engagement per post at 611.8, nearly twice that of public service programs. The issue also recorded the highest Sad reaction share at 5.7 percent, reflecting concern over the safety of Filipinos working in conflict areas.
