Duterte to focus on COVID-19 recovery roadmap in 5th SONA, says Palace

July 22, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte will present a roadmap for recovery amid the coronavirus disease pandemic during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

In an interview by CNN Philippines, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte will personally appear at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 27.

"I think you can imagine that the President will summarize the effects of the COVID pandemic, as well as the responses of government and the way forward - how the government will actually approach this problem," he said.

"I think there's no other problem as big as COVID right now, and you can imagine that the upcoming State of the Nation Address will discuss this pandemic in much detail," Roque said.

"But I think the difference will be, he will be presenting now a roadmap for recovery, which actually, if you’ve noticed the economic team has not unveiled yet. And I think the reason is they want to unveil it in the SONA itself and in many fora after the SONA," he added.

In the pre-SONA briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the President could also push for the legislative priority measures in the last two years of his administration.

"He may also talk about legislative priorities and going into the next two years. We still have low hanging fruits in terms of legislation," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS