Once more, the country is preparing for the annual ritual more popularly known for its abbreviation, State of the Nation Address, which is the President’s yearly address delivered to the joint session of Congress. The Constitution mandates the President to give this speech at the Plenary Hall of the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City every 4th Monday of July each year. While critics of the government may not accord the Sona the significance that it deserves, this political exercise is critical as it is a vehicle for the head of state to report his accomplishments in office during the preceding year and present his plans and programs of government for the coming year and his remaining years in Malacañang.
In a democracy, it is to the public’s interest to know what the government has done in the past and what is in store ahead. Some may not like the President but it’s of paramount importance to know his message. Constructive participation in government, whether for or against, is only possible if the citizens are well informed. It behooves them to listen first before they shoot the messenger.
During the First Philippine Republic, President Emilio F. Aguinaldo’s role was to preside over the opening of Malolos Congress in 1899. He did not deliver a Sona because the Malolos Constitution did not require him to give one. The first Sona was made by President Manuel L. Quezon shortly after the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on June 16, 1936 at the Legislative Building in Manila. The 1935 Constitution required the President of the Philippines to provide an annual report to Congress, to wit: “The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the Nation, and recommend to its consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” I think this was the first time that a reference to a “state of the Nation” was used in the Constitution of our country. During the 2nd Philippine Republic under the Japanese puppet government, President Jose P. Laurel gave his message before a special session of the National Assembly headed by Speaker Benigno S. Aquino, Sr. but this was not considered a Sona since the puppet Constitution did not provide for it. Both Presidents Sergio Osmeña Sr. and Manuel A. Roxas delivered their Sona during the last years of the Commonweath Government. Roxas gave his own Sona on the 3rd Philippine Republic after the war in front of the First Congress in 1947. The tradition of delivering the Sona every opening of Congress has continued to this day although the date and venue have varied. In 1986, President Corazon Aquino did not deliver the Sona after the Edsa Revolution but she gave her first Sona after Congress was reestablished in 1987.
What we will miss most in this year’s Sona is the absence of ostentatious display of fashion and extravagance by the members of Congress and the VIP guests who will strut their pompous attire in a la red-carpet fashion show in the halls of the Batasan. As in the past years, they will flaunt their glamorous outfits and their glamorous figures bedecked with precious jewelry and priceless stones. At least, the pandemic has spared us of this wanton exhibition of pomp and profligacy.
On Monday, July 27, 2020, President Duterte will have his penultimate opportunity to present to our people his program of government particularly in dealing with Covid-19, which has wrecked our lives and devastated our economy. Actually, it’s his final chance to demonstrate his true mettle as a duly elected leader of his country with a resounding plurality of votes over his next closest opponent. The President’s 6th and last Sona in July 2021 will span the 2022 elections and politics and keeping the party in power will be the overarching message. After four long years of running our government, the President has reached the point where he has to place all his marbles on the table and bet on the future of this country. At stake is the Duterte legacy and how history will judge his presidency. Posterity has been unkind to the residents of Malacañang and historians have been unforgiving and cruel to former holders of the presidency. Two-thirds of President Duterte’s term is over but it is not yet too late to make up and regain our people’s trust. What he does within the next 12 months will make or unmake the Duterte presidency. Fighting this pandemic, more than any other demons, real or otherwise, will take the full measure of the President. At present, what will define his presidency is not the “Cha-Cha,” the oligarchy, “tokhang” or ABS-CBN but how he will address the current scourge, which has been lethal to the health of the Filipinos and the Philippine economy. It will be his last bid for greatness, which he cannot afford to fail.