Marcos trims SONA speech into nearly 1.5 hours

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr’s second State of the Nation Address is expected to last for one hour and 25 minutes.

This was revealed by his first son, Senior Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Sandro Marcos (Ilocos Norte, 1st District) in a press interview ahead of the SONA.

Sandro says his father wrote the SONA himself but he had to revise it to shorten the lengthy speech. He cited that any longer than that might “lose the attention span” of the viewing public.

It was no different than the first year. He wrote the speech and then asked for some people to look it over. It's always nice to have a fresh set of eyes after writing it and writing it again,” the lawmaker said.

“So, I think to begin with, the speech is slightly long but he was able to shave it down a little bit,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.

Asked about the highlight of this year’s SONA speech, Sandro declined to share further information.

“As always, every time someone asks me, I don't want to be the one to preempt the president. But it will essentially be like what he said, a report to the people… of what has been done in the last year and what problems we continue to face and what needs to be done, Sandro said.

Last year, Marcos Jr did not deviate from his SONA speech which lasted for an hour and 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, Sandro said his grandmother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, has yet to decide whether she would attend this year’s SONA.

The first son said that his aunt, Sen. Imee Marcos encouraged the Marcos matriarch to skip this year’s SONA due to the still prevailing COVID-19 threats.

Marcos Jr. lifted the public health emergency over COVID-19 last week. —Rosette Adel with reports from Cristina Chi