A SONA 2020 summary in case you missed it

President Rodrigo Duterte gave his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday afternoon at the Batasang Pambansa. 

It didn't come without a bit of a drama. A little before 1pm, news broke that 6 Malacanang personnel tested positive for COVID-19 and that they were going to decide by 2pm if the event will push through in Batasan or if they will revert to Plan B, which was to hold it in Malacanang.

By 2:30pm, presidential spokesman Harry Roque confirmed it will push through as planned.

A little before 4pm, dzBB reported that two choppers have taken off from Malacanang, and by 3:57pm, they have landed in Quezon City.

Below is a quick summary of the speech. 

1. It lasted for 1 hour 40 minutes and 45 seconds.

2. The program started on time at 4pm with a prayer, followed by the Lupang Hinirang. Duterte promptly started at 4:05pm.

3. He opened his speech by mentioning COVID-19, saying we live in a troubled time. Yes, we noticed that Duterte pronounced it as "veerus," and he said it twice. 

4. And then he went on a tirade against the owners of ABS-CBN. "I am a casualty of the Lopezes," said the President.

5. Here are a few things Duterte talked about in his speech: Creating government agencies for OFWs, helping MSMEs, education, he brought up death penalty by lethal injection for drug offenses, and how the gains of the past 3.5 years has been put to the test. He also talked about the situation in the West Philippine Sea and agriculture, and thanked everyone who helped the country through the pandemic. There's a lot more he talked about and you can find them here.

6. The President gave special mention to Sen. Bong Go twice: when he thanked him for the Malasakit Center law and when Duterte made a remark about how this was going to be his longest SONA yet and people might want stand up to leave but his former special aide can stay.

7. He stammered a total of four times: When he mentioned our credit rating upgrades, when he called on the LGUs, in that part of his speech about digital transformation , and when he had a hard time pronouncing "lamangan" correctly as he called out those profiteering from the pandemic. At one point, he said, "my eyesight is not as good as new."

8. Tourism head Berna Romulo-Puyat was just so happy to hear Duterte endorse local travel to revive the economy.

9. Congratulations! The President did not cuss! Well, he tried: Twice he was able to stop himself from saying "p— ina" and then we heard him utter it under his breath a grand total of once.

12. The President wants queueing — lining up — to be a thing of the past. "Panahon na para mawala ang pila," he said as he talked about the national government's digital transformation. The Department of Budget and Management, Anti-Red Tape Authority, and all government agencies were tasked to make all possible government services available online. Duterte wants us to go paperless. "We need e-governance," he added.

13. He wants to call Jesus Christ in Bethlehem by December. In calling out telecommunication companies, Duterte said, "Kindly improve your services by December. I want to call Jesus Christ in Bethlehem." Needless to say, Jesus Christ trended on Philippine Twitter shortly after. 

14. As he was discussing economic and social programs of his administration, Duterte made a joke about how he couldn't understand his speech. 

"Kung hindi ninyo ako naiintindihan sa binabasa ko, mas lalo ako," Duterte said in jest on Monday.

15. He spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping four days ago and he asked if we could be first in availing of the vaccine if they already had one? Duterte believes there could be a vaccine by September. 

16. At around the 59th minute, Duterte made it into a "semi-formal" speech by mentioning drugs and illustrating how exactly it wreaks havoc on the Filipino family. 

17. We only heard him say "I will kill you" once throughout the speech.  

18. There's a fire truck in Davao named "Studebaker." 

19. Sen. Franklin Drilon book-ended SONA. In the beginning of SONA, the President accused Drilon of protecting ABS-CBN. At the end of his speech, Duterte linked him to the Ayala's water deal, which the senator denied.

20. This is the first of the 82 SONA events that accommodated a limited number of attendees due to a pandemic. According to a report on 24 Oras, only a maximum of 50 people was allowed to physically witness Duterte's 5th SONA at the Batasang Pambansa.

Vice President Leni Robredo was not among the 50, saying she only received an invitation to attend the event via Zoom video conferencing.

21. He ended his speech abruptly with, "I am through!" — LA, GMA News