A lawmaker has called Vice President Sara Duterte’s announcement of not attending President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Third State of the Nation Address (SONA) and appointing herself as the “designated survivor” a “bad joke.” Duterte made known her plan to skip the SONA on Thursday during an event in Davao City.
San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan Rep. Florida Robes further added that Duterte’s announcement was “done in poor taste that one would expect from a Marites (rumormonger), and not from the second highest official of the land.” Robes said that tradition and etiquette dictates that the vice president should be at the SONA.
“Decorum does not require her to applaud the President’s speech, but to appear in Congress when it is delivered,” the lawmakers said.
Robes said that there were instances that the President and the Vice President came from opposing parties but their disagreements were shelved during SONA.
“Boycotting the SONA is not bravery. It is cowardice. Skipping it is not sending a strong statement. It is injecting politics in an event where the people expect all their leaders, the entire officialdom, to be present for a constitutionally ordained event,” she added.
Robes said that Duterte should follow her predecessor, Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, who attended the SONA “in a hall teeming with Duterte stalwarts.” “President Duterte cursed everybody but he did not utter a single bad word about his Vice President, out of respect of the office VP Leni held. President BBM, ever the gentleman, will do the same, and in fact, would do better than her father, by praising her,” Robes said.
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