How long Duterte's SONAs were through the years

MANILA, Philippines— President Rodrigo Duterte is set to deliver his fourth State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 22.

According to presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, Duterte told him that his speech for this year will be “short.”

“Oh by the way, he said that… because I asked him about the SONA this morning. He said, 'Oh it will be short,'” Panelo said in a Palace press briefing on Tuesday.

Panelo cited the president had pre-SONA which discussed the achievements of his administration.

The pre-SONA forums were held in Manila last July 1, Cebu City last July 10 and Davao City last July 17.

This year, Panelo said there is no need for the president to repeatedly mention this achievements and so he will opt for a shorter SONA speech.

The presidential spokesman clarified that Duterte’s “short” speech may take longer.

“Usually ‘pag (if) short, dalawang oras ‘yun eh. (it’s two hours long) [laughs],” Panelo said.

“Iyon na nga exact words niya eh, ‘Ah, short lang’ (That’s his exact words, ‘Ah, short only’),” he added.

Panelo said the public can expect an hour to a three-hour long speech.

During his first years in office, Duterte usually delivers two to four hours of long speeches in events.

But how long were Duterte’s SONA speeches in the past three years?

According to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, here is the breakdown of duration of Duterte’s SONA:

• First SONA; July 25, 2016 – 1 hours 22 minutes-long

• Second SONA; July 24, 2017 – 2 hours

• Third SONA; July 23, 2018 – 48 minutes

In 2016, Andanar, who used to review the draft of SONA speech, said Duterte would deliver a “powerful” and “emotionally-stirring” first SONA.

The communications chief’s opinion, however, drew flak as Duterte’s speech failed to move the audience then.

Duterte then followed a prepared speech containing the accomplishments of the Cabinet.

WATCH: The parts of Duterte’s speech that made Andanar cry

The 2017 speech of Duterte, on the other hand, was his longest SONA as he followed the speech and added his own commentaries. The speech was also laden with more than 20 expletives.

However, the president took a turn in 2018 when he delivered his shortest SONA speech that took less than an hour and did not have any expletives.

All of his speeches mentioned his favorite key issues such as the drug war and corruption.

Andanar said that this year, the president’s SONA will be about his future plans for the country.

““The SONA 2019 is going to be about the Duterte legacy, what he would be doing for the next three years, like poverty alleviation, infrastructure projects, peace and order highlighting the task force to end local communist conflict,” Andanar was quoted in ANC’s Beyond Politics.

The communications official said he is also hopeful that the president’s accomplishments under the infrastructure cluster, economic and business cluster, transparency, Freedom of Information security, other and policies like the Malasakit Center would be discussed.  

Despite this, Andanar said the speech “will still depend” on Duterte.

Duterte's SONA will be held at the session hall of the House of Representatives and will once again be directed by Joyce Bernal.