RODRIGO DUTERTE DELIVERED his SONA speech at 4 p.m. in front of 29 congressmen and eight senators. Vice President Leni Robredo was not invited to physically attend Duterte’s address. She along with all other congressmen and senators attended via teleconference.

Duterte used his speech to hurl personal attacks against his political rivals. He made no mention about the plight of farmers, workers and other sectors that are direly affected by his inept, militarist and failing response to the pandemic.

He refused to call out China for its escalating aggression in Philipine martime territories near the South China Sea stating that he is “inutile” with regard to this matter. Instead of announcing measures against the pandemic, he revived his proposal to implement death penalty, incentivize corporations, and extend his emergency powers to enable him to accumulate more kickbacks.