INTRODUCTION

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is an annual event in the Philippines where delegates are
gathered in one place to hear the address of the President regarding the current state of the country. Last
July 22, 2019, the current president of the Republic of the Philippines Rodrigo Roa Dutere delivered his
4th SONA in the country that lasted for an hour and 30 minutes. The president focused on his
administration’s accomplishments, the laws that he wants to be passed, and the changes that the Filipino
people should expect for the coming years. The audience, however, returned a hybrid of reactions—some
were satisfied, some were not. This paper aims to analyze the effectivity of the overall speech of President
Duterte in his latest SONA.

SUMMARY

President Duterte started his speech by expressing gratitude and honor to the members of the
senate and other valued guests that were present in the said event. He also thanked all the people and
government officials who stayed and always kept their faith in him. As an opening statement, he used the
latest Pulse Asia survey where the results show that there are only 3% of the Filipino population that
disapproves of him. Then, he started to discuss his arguments which revolved around the drug crack
down, implementation of death penalty, corruption, anti-red tape, rehabilitation of Boracay and Manila
Bay, Telecommunications, Bangsamoro Organic Law, and Ending Communist violence.

CRITICAL EVALUATION

The SONA was designed to be a formal occasion with people styled in a decent manner. They must
be honorable and presentable by the way they look, act, and even with the way and the words they speak.
However, with the President’s speech, it was noticeable that there were countless times when he
mouthed words that are informal and inappropriate to the audiences and the occasion itself. It can be
also noticed that the audience’s attention was not captivated by the speaker (the president) all the way
through. The president was able paved the road of his speech—every detail and argument he wished to
inculcate to the audience was radiated. Yet, it seemed like the message or the content of the speech did
not osmose to the audience. Yes, you could see some delegates laughing and clapping along with the jokes
uttered by the president, but you could still see some delegates with drowsy eyes who were just fighting
their way through the event. With this, it could be deducted that the speech was not inviting or enticing
for most of the audience.

The speech was delivered in a way where it is easily understood by everyone listening. It was a
slow-paced speech with little to no highfaluting words—any person with the basic knowledge with English
would understand it. However, the flow of the speech was not ideal or smooth. The president shifted from
a topic to another and inserted a lot of unnecessary information. This was highlighted when he was
discussing a policy he wants to be imposed and, out of nowhere, he progressed into telling a story on how
hard it is to find his reading classes. Yet this improvisation has also helped in radiating the context of the
speech when he tried to dish out examples to better understand the topic. Duterte’s improvisation is a
double edge sword that is bias towards it being a sharp derogative blade.

This year’s SONA is much understandable than that of the others. It’s in a basic form of language
that anyone could understand. On the contrary, how the language was used is flawed. The path this SONA
took a lot of turns where the main points the speaker wanted to emphasize has been washed down
leveling off with the unnecessary information inserted in between. The length and amount of information
uttered within one speech and the turns and flaws of the speech’s flow makes it difficult for one to retell
the whole SONA. One may understand the whole gist of the speech, but retelling the topic with keen detail
of the main points is improbable.

CONCLUSION

President Duterte ended his speech with a powerful statement, “We are now entering a period
of consequences. The consequences of what we did and did not do but should have done during my first
half of my term. I assume full responsibility for that. As a President, I cannot pass it, the blame to anybody.
So, it’s on me.” In context of public speaking, this is remarkable as the speaker ended a lengthy and info-
heavy speech with a hard quote that encapsulates the whole speech. The audience might not remember
all the numbers or the information within the speech, but at least, they have a couple of sentences that
they could put in their bags as they leave the venue. It was indeed a powerful ending.

In totality, this year’s SONA is not seamless, but it has served its purpose. It has updated the
people of the current state of the administration. But it should’ve been delivered in a much more formal
and straightforward manner fitting the theme and atmosphere of the gathering. We are gifted the
freedom of speech which is highlighted when we are given the chance to speak in front of millions of
people. However, that does not remove us the responsibility of registering our means and modes of
communication towards what is appropriate and just.