STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS (SONA) 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his 3rd State Of the Nation Address (SONA) (Monday July 23, 2018) at the Session hall of the house of the Representatives, Batasang Pambansa Complex, Quezon City. The speech lasted for 48 minutes, his shortest SONA so far. Short but sweet, I was shocked because he delivered his speech without cussing. Is that really the President Duterte talking? But everything his speech were drama free.

SONA or State of the Nation Address is an annual address by the President of the Philippines to a joint session of the congress. It is also a vehicle for the President to summarize the accomplishments and plans of his/her program of governments.
President Duterte started his speech, telling the congress he wants the second package of tax reforms passed before the end of the year. He emphasize his government's top campaign, war on drugs. He also said that he wants to continue the Train Law. He fired several officials tagged in corruption, he vows to sign Bangsamoro Organic Law within 48 hours after it's ratification.
And my favorite and really gets my attention is when he explain about the war on drugs. He said "WAR IS NOT AN OPTION." "YOUR CONCERN IS HUMAN RIGHTS, MINE IS HUMAN LIVES" which is true because there's so many lives wasted because of that drugs. I also liked what he said about friendship; "I VALUE FRIENDSHIP BUT IT HAS IT'S LIMITS." because he is willing to let go of certain friendships if it meant sticking to his stance against corruption. that's why he fired several officials.

When compared to the previous SONA of the president,he now sticks to his script. During his first SONA in 2016 his speech lasted for 90 minutes or 1 hour and 30 minutes, while his second, in 2017 lasted for 2 hours.