MANILA – Today’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte will be about the future, according to Malacañang.
“Traditionally the SONA is the highlight of achievements of the previous year,” said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr.
“But this year’s SONA is all about the essentials on what [President Duterte] intends to do in the next 12 months of his administration,” Roque said.
Duterte earlier said his SONA speech will not take more than 35 minutes.
Elected on an anticrime platform in 2016, the President is expected to “articulate the people’s desire for genuine and meaningful change,” said Roque.
The content of his 2018 speech will be a “continuation of his two previous SONAs,” he added.
In addition, “what sets the 2018 SONA apart from the previous SONAs of past Presidents is the holding of a three-part series pre-SONA Forum, ‘Tatak ng Pagbabago,’ where the administration’s accomplishments have been spelled out,” said Roque.
Romantic-comedy film director Joyce Bernal will direct this year’s SONA.
The SONA has been traditionally held at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.
Congress is also expected to ratify Monday the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which the Bicameral Conference Committee approved on July 18.
Duterte will sign the measure into law before he delivers his third SONA in the afternoon, said Roque.
“Nagpapa-salamat po tayo sa ating mga mambabatas at sa mga miyembro ng Bangsamoro Transition Council dahil natapos na po ang bicameral conference ng (proposed) BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law),” he said.
“Meron na pong malalagdaan ang Presidente bago po ang kanyang SONA sa darating na Lunes,” Roque added.
The measure is expected to be the enabling law of the peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Both parties struck the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014 in a bid to grant greater autonomy to the Bangsamoro region. (With Adrian Stewart Co/PN)
