The following words of President Bongbong Marcos make us feel good by simply repeating them:

“Every decision I make for our economy is guided by a simple question: will this make life better for the Filipino?

“A strong economy is not just about numbers; it is about creating a real change that enables every Filipino to build a better life.

“I have always believed that the strength of a nation is measured not just within its borders, but in how it is seen, heard, and respected around the world.

“We have built stronger ties with old friends and forged new partnerships with nations that share our hopes for peace, prosperity, and progress.

“Together, we signed important bilateral agreements on trade, defense, agriculture, climate action, the digital economy, maritime cooperation, and labor deployment.”

And finally, the best of them all:

“Diplomacy is not about photo ops. It’s about securing jobs for our people, defending our sovereignty, and giving the world more reasons to believe in the Filipino.”

With all of the foregoing words, PBBM has placed the Philippines on the international radar and gained respect from world leaders and business.

No less than US President Donald Trump expressed this view: One important move for a leader of the Philippines to bring the country to its greatest heights of progress is to stop corruption. After that, everything will be okay for this great country and its wonderful people.

The bicameral conference committee of both houses of Congress, or notoriously called the “third congress,” is the “epicenter” of corruption in the Philippines. It is the scourge of the disadvantaged or the greatest majority of the Filipino people.

Scourge because it is in this bicameral committee that the congressional insertions conceive the “pork barrel,” the ugliest and most destructive conspiracy of the few to provide for the few of them the greater portion of the national budget, their “pork barrel,” for their pockets rather than for the food and medicine of the greatest number of our people.

At the height of the pork barrel folly, the senators and congressmen pocketed 65 percent of the taxes paid by the Filipino people. That is why, since the inception of the pork barrel system in 1986 up to now, “the poor continue to be poorer and the rich continue to be richer.”

Only President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. can stop the pork barrel system, the most pernicious and hated practice. Nothing will please the Filipino people more than for the President to veto the pork wherever and in whatever form he finds it.

It would be best if he finally decides to shift our form of government from the unitary to the federal-parliamentary form, thereby abolishing Congress and banishing the “bicam” to nothingdom.

The shift will not only stop the pork barrel system, but it will also promote economic prosperity in the regions and provide incentives for Filipinos to live and work outside of Imperial Manila. Investors will put up businesses if the right policies are implemented.

The federal system is key to achieving national peace and economic prosperity in a diverse society like ours, with 18 regions, 81 provinces, 144 cities, 1,490 municipalities, and 42,026 barangays.

Changing the form of government to parliamentary would be as easy as eating biscuits. I don’t think Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Chiz Escudero would feel begrudged if they both work on a people’s initiative to form a new government by adapting the 1973 Constitution. Either one can aspire to be Prime Minister.

The Filipino people would be more than glad for President Bongbong Marcos to remain as President until a new one is elected by the people in national elections to be set by the Commission on Elections.