Duterte breaks PNoy record of giving longest post-EDSA SONA

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address went far longer than what Malacañang estimated.

Instead of his last SONA running under an hour, Duterte’s speech lasted for two hours, 45 minutes and 39 seconds. 

This makes this SONA the longest one after the EDSA People Power Revolution, beating former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s record of two hours and 15 minutes.

Duterte’s second SONA in 2017 was his second-longest address, lasting two hours. His shortest one was in 2018. That one only lasted for 48 minutes.

The SONA of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos is so far the still the longest address in terms of word count, with his 1969 speech reaching 29,335 words.

Duterte largely looked back on what he considered his administration’s achievements over the past five years and rambled on about illegal drugs, allotting only a fraction of his speech to how his government plans to address the COVID-19 pandemic.