Duterte jokes about ‘drowsy’ teleprompter operator

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday joked about a “drowsy” teleprompter operator in his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Speaking before lawmakers and other government officials at the Batasang Pambansa, Duterte went off script after sensing that he was reading his speech quite slow.

“It’s either I’m talking too fast or too slow or the operator of this thing here is drowsy. Maybe because I had so many ad libs along the way,” Duterte said after he struggled to enumerate the number of communist rebels who surrendered to the government.

“Marami ho akong akin lang. [I have a lot that's just coming from me.] When I stop and I process something the gray matter between my ears hindi humahabol o hindi alam ng operator [the operator can't keep up or doesn't know about it].”

Still, Duterte paid tribute to the teleprompter operators who were with him during rehearsals.

“Hindi bale, Ma’am, mahal pa rin kita [Never mind, I still love you],” he said, drawing applause from the audience. “I will embrace them for their punctuality in operating this strange machine that gives you the speech.”

Two hours later, Duterte asked the audience whether they wanted him to end his speech already.

“Kung mataas na, putulin na lang ninyo itong gumagalaw dito para sabihin ko wala na akong mabasa [If it's high, just cut off this moving stuff so that I can say there's nothing more for me to read],” he said, referring to the teleprompter.

‘Pag matagal na [If it's taking long], those who want to go home raise your right hands,” the President quipped. — BM, GMA News