VICE President Sara Duterte said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) was “a waste of time.”
For the second consecutive year, Duterte did not attend Marcos’ Sona on Monday, July 27, 2026.
“I did not watch the Sona, just like last year, and I have no plans to read its contents or even its summary because I truly believe it is a waste of the Filipino people’s time,” she said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 27 (Central European Summer Time).
Duterte said none of the promises Marcos made had been fulfilled during his years in office, including personal commitments he made to her before the 2022 national elections.
“I only asked for two things. When I agreed to run as his running mate and serve as his vice president, he broke one of those promises within just a few months -- before even a year had passed. It was simply a request related to something I needed to do every night for my children because they were still young. He did not keep that promise,” the Vice President said in Tagalog.
“Fine, let’s say that was personal and that he did not have to fulfill it. But let’s talk about his public promises. Did he deliver on P20-per-kilo rice? No. He also said someone would be jailed before Christmas. Did that happen? No. So why do people still believe in and watch the Sona?” she added.
Duterte said the Marcos administration’s campaign against alleged corruption in flood control projects is nothing more than a “PR stunt” meant to save the President’s image.
She said Marcos could not distance himself from the flood control controversy because he signed the national budget into law.
“That is exactly what I have been pointing out regarding the filing of an impeachment case against him. That is the impeachable offense. You signed a budget even though you knew there were numerous insertions and that the National Expenditures Program (NEP) was no longer the same as the General Appropriations Act (GAA) that eventually came out,” Duterte said.
“And even when you saw that there were anomalies, you still signed the budget. That is why he cannot distance himself simply by saying, ‘I am the President who told them to be ashamed,’ or ‘I am the President who had people jailed.’ No one has been jailed. No one who received suitcases of money from the flood control scandal has been imprisoned,” she added.
Duterte also said the public should not expect former House Speaker Martin Romualdez to be jailed simply because Marcos announced it during his Sona.
Meanwhile, the President’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos, said the President’s statement was nothing more than a deception.
“What the President said that former Speaker Martin Romualdez will soon face charges before the Ombudsman is nothing but another deception,” Imee said in a statement.
Imee, along with four other minority senators, skipped the Sona to protest the arrest and detention of opposition senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada.
Marcoleta is facing charges over an alleged undeclared P75 million in election donations, while Estrada has been accused in connection with alleged anomalies in flood control projects. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)