Duterte would have skipped SONA if speakership row unsolved
MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte had threatened not to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) if the speakership race was not resolved, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go said yesterday.
Go said Duterte told him that he did not want a repeat of what happened in the 2018 SONA when the delivery of his speech was delayed over the speakership row between then-speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his successor, then Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Go said Duterte made the threat known when he was practicing his speech at Malacañang on Saturday night.
“He said if it will be repeated and there will be trouble, and there will still be no speaker – he did not say who – like last year, he said he will not go there and he will just rest at home,” Go told reporters.
Duterte earlier endorsed Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano as speaker for 15 months, to be succeeded by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, who will serve the last 21 months.
Paying heed to Duterte’s wishes, House members elected Cayetano as speaker hours before Duterte’s SONA with 266 votes.
Another contender in the speakership race, Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez, was elected majority leader.
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