Robredo to attend SONA via Zoom

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo will attend President Duterte’s 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) today exclusively online.

“I’m not invited to the House of Representatives. The invitation we received was via Zoom, so that’s what I’ll be attending,” the Vice President said in her weekly program yesterday over dzXL.

Robredo, who heads the opposition, has attended the past four SONAs of Duterte at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

“I really clear my schedule for the SONA. Because I’m not invited to go there physically I’ll attend it via Zoom because it’s my obligation,” she said.

Robredo said she expects the President to deliver his administration’s COVID-19 recovery plan.

“We know that COVID-19 has caused severe impact on us, we want to know his plan. We’ve been asking for this because we found the weekly televised meetings (of the government) lacking,” she said.

“We want to hear not just the recovery plan but also the plan to arrest the spike in cases,” Robredo said.

The Vice President, however, said she expects the non-fulfillment of some of the targets made by the Duterte administration last year due to the pandemic.

“For instance, our (economic) growth rate, we expect it to be low, also the high unemployment rate,” she said.