President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s third State of the Nation Address, a third of the way through his term, enumerated what he has delivered, and will deliver more, in more than an hour of speech.

Marcos saved the best for last.

Greeted with applause and chants of "B-B-M!" was his unflinching ban on POGOs and his  steadfast position that we cannot yield the West Philippine Sea.

But before that, the audience in the halls of Congress and the public who tuned on TV, online and on radio, were peppered with his administration's achievements - from raising salaries and benefits of certain sectors, to digitalization of the country's education sector to arrest the lag in performance against our neighbors.

Elsewhere, outside the halls of Congress, others were more critical.

Just outside the House of Representatives where the real issues are felt, the ones who are most affected by the crunch of high prices rallied despite the rain.

There were others too who hold on to the promise that he will have the solution.

On this, Marcos said it best himself, "the hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia means nothing to a Filipino who is confronted by the price of rice at P45-65 per kilo."

From here he launched more plans. Framed by various support on agriculture and irrigation projects, Marcos promised to help solve our dependence on imported and expensive rice.

He also promised to check the high electricity rates that is holding back the economy by ordering the review of the EPIRA Law, the 2001 law that was supposed to lower power costs.

The problem with SONAs is they have become an outlet for rallying the citizens' approval, pushing the president to give more promises on top of what he already gave. In the end, they are the same promises that the citizens would expect to get.