MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is expected to deliver a speech lasting an hour and 25 minutes for his second State of the Nation address (Sona) on Monday afternoon, according to his son, Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos.
The representative said that the initial draft of the speech was much longer and had to be trimmed down.
“If I am not mistaken, the one this year will be around one hour, 25 [minutes]. As a general rule, he says, if it goes over one hour thirty, one hour 45, no one will listen to you if it’s too long, so he really tries to keep it under an hour 45,” said the Presidential son in a mix of English and Filipino in an ambush interview in Batasan Hills in Quezon City.
Sandro Marcos echoed his father’s previous statement, characterizing the Sona as a concise update to inform the public about his administration’s accomplishments and the remaining tasks at hand.
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“Well, it’s no different than the first year. He wrote the speech and asked for some people to look it over. It’s always nice to have a fresh set of eyes after writing and writing it again, so I think, to begin with, it was too long, and he was able to shave it down,” added the younger Marcos.
Marcos also added that his father started working on the speech two weeks ago.
Asked what to expect from the President’s speech, Rep. Sandro said he does not want to get ahead of his father.
“I don’t want to be the one to pre-empt the President, but it will essentially be like he said, a report to the people of what has been done in the last year and what problems we continue to face, and what needs to be done,” said Marcos.
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