If you've been driving along EDSA this past weekend, you wouldn't have missed them. There were a lot of banners touting Bongbong Marcos' first State of the Nation Address. Those banners were quite imposing, and not just because of the president's face: they were so big that they hung so close to the ground. One can imagine an unsuspecting driver have his car - or himself - swiped by that banner.

The impression, of course, is that this address is an Important Event, one that every Filipino should watch if they are to know where the government intends the country to move in the next year, at least, and in the next six years, ideally. Well, yes, it is an important event; it is most Filipinos' first indication of what the new president plans to do, especially after spending most of the campaign period avoiding debates and most policy pronouncements. We may have heard some inklings of those plans in recent weeks, as cabinet secretaries outlined their priorities, but it still hits differently when it comes from the man on the top himself.

But then, recent SONAs have also been an exercise in brand and reputation management. The Duterte administration made a big deal out of enlisting acclaimed film directors to be in charge of what most Filipinos see on their televisions, to mixed results. Brillante Mendoza utilized low angles that contributed nothing to our understanding of what the then president wanted to do (and his rambling style did not make things any easier). Joyce Bernal then did a much more conventional job, until the whole affair became just an excuse to slap a director's name to an otherwise drab, bureaucratic affair.

Of course Bongbong would do the same. He enlisted an ally - Paul Soriano, husband of known supporter Toni Gonzaga. This time, however, the director's contributions are more substantial. There was a shot from the ceiling of the Batasang Pambansa session hall, from the top looking straight down. Keen observers would notice that the furniture of the legislative chamber has been rearranged to a crescent set-up, more reminiscent of the United States Congress. The camera spun around freely (on a jimmy jib, most likely) as Bongbong entered the chamber, making more play of his applauding audience. Just before he started his address, there was a shot of the president directly from his back, again emphasizing his applauding audience. There was, finally, a spotlight on him throughout the address, an approach no previous president had utilized. In ways, you may call it Citizen Kane-esque, if not Triumph of the Will-esque, in the use of the space.

The speech itself also contributes to the impression that we are witnessing an Important Event - critically, an Important Event led by an Important and Competent Person. To be fair, Duterte's rambling speeches are a low bar to hurdle through. Bongbong sought to demonstrate a strong grasp of the issues facing the country, speaking exclusively in English when he has to cite jargon (and he had to do so many times), and then shifting to Filipino when addressing issues that matter more to his audience at home. One can say he did his homework. He was confident; he did not linger; he did not stumble. When he talked about improving agricultural value chains you just felt he really knew what he was talking about.

But those are impressions. What are his plans? There aren't a lot of new things to watch for, but then, Bongbong pretty much ran as a continuity candidate. If anything, he better articulated ideas that Duterte had introduced (to the public sphere, at least) in his own SONAs. Anything new he may have mentioned were either a response to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, or a response to perceived shortcomings of the previous president. We will restart in-person classes; we will boost our defenses and not give up an inch of our territory; we will no longer return to lockdowns.

There are a lot of plans, and they go beyond reintroducing mandatory military service to our students, or reestablishing (if you could call it that) our nuclear power capabilities. In fact, there are so many plans - most of them initiatives introduced by previous administrations, some of them rearticulated responses to the challenges posed by the last couple of years - that you may feel overwhelmed. Perhaps that is the point. Bongbong Marcos is a man with the plan, and if you felt that Duterte did not deliver, well, this guy can. That's the impression this State of the Nation Address wants to make on you. Never mind your anxieties a few months back. Perhaps you were afraid of what 31 million people chose on your behalf? Don't worry. It'll be fine.

And it should be, if not for the elephant in the room. Bongbong spent the campaign period dodging his family's legacy of corruption, with his supporters choosing to play up his (and his father's) achievements instead. You know the script. At least they got these things done. Would these people supposedly full of integrity do? We know the government plans to enlist the private sector in realizing some of its plans, particularly in transport and health infrastructure, two key priorities enlisted in the SONA. The Duterte administration, for better or worse, chose to rely on development assistant, which led to accusations of the government being unduly influenced by China's pockets. But with the private sector bankrolling infrastructure projects that are already completed and are being enjoyed, it makes sense to get them on board to continue the momentum. That, and fiscally we can't afford borrowing even more money.

But who gets to profit from those? Who will benefit from that windfall of government's promise of continued investment in infrastructure and facilities? And who's palms will have to be greased to make circumstances more favorable for certain entities? That's the elephant in the room. The new president did not explicitly mention fighting corruption in his address. There are, it seems to be implied, more important things to do, what with the pandemic dragging us down and everything else around us lurking. All this talk of being more self-sufficient and being more able to take care of each other sounds good, but at whose expense? But then, that question is not being asked by most of those watching at the Batasang Pambansa and at home. What matters, they'll contend, is that there are plans. Never mind that they're light on details, although that's understandable. At least there are plans, many plans. An imposing impression that threatens to overshadow some important questions.