THE Palace says the President's State of the Nation Address, to be delivered on the fourth Monday of this month, will come "straight from the heart."
While Malacañang contracted the services of yet another director, there will be no carefully crafted script, just a recitation of Mr. Duterte's "personal sentiments." The speech will not be "hindered with the need to report on the di erent achievements," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
Just when a presidential accounting on what the administration has done over the past year in objective, measurable terms became a hindrance is beyond us.
Instead, that task has been relegated to the Cabinet members, slated to hold "pre-Sona briefings" with the media.
The accomplishments would certainly carry gravitas if they are delivered by the chief executive, because then he can put them in context of a broader, more strategic vision for the nation. That is, if there is any.
Then again the President seems bent on an extemporaneous address, which, truth to tell, would not be all that new to us.
In the past two years, we have seen Mr. Duterte deviate from prepared speeches when he felt like it, and speak "from the heart," anyway. It is during these deviations that he talks about anything he wants, and utters the incendiary statements that make for good headlines in the days that follow. He could single out anybody in the crowd, talk about his drug war, exhort the police to do this or that, attack priests, contradict his own previous pronouncements, question God, or profess adoration—sometimes, hatred—of foreign heads of state.
It's a shame because we would really like to know where he intends to take us, how far we have come and how we will get to our envisioned state. Here, clear and unequivocal language, based on sound data, would be ideal. Logical transition from one idea to the next is key. That will give the people a sense of direction and control over an already-challenging and unpredictable day-today existence.
But no. We are told by his spokesman: "We will all be intrigued about what the President will say."
"Intrigued" is not a word we would use. Knowing that Mr. Duterte would be given a wide latitude of what he will say during the Sona, and how he will say them, we instead brace ourselves for a wild ride.