The first SONA was delivered during a special session of the National Assembly on November 25, 1935 by President Manuel L. Quezon.
Although it is a yearly tradition and now a constitutional obligation for the president to deliver a SONA, two presidents in history – Jose P. Laurel and Emilio Aguinaldo – did not do so as their respective Constitutions did not require a report to Congress.
President Sergio Osmeña delivered only one SONA on June 3, 1946.
The SONA is usually delivered in the legislative building. However, in January 1950, Elpidio Quirino gave his SONA through a radio broadcast while hospitalized at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States.
Within 23 minutes, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her 2005 SONA with only 1,556 words. It is the shortest one to date. President Sergio Osmeña’s SONA in 1945 is the second shortest.
President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. holds multiple records in the history of SONAs. He delivered a total of 20 SONAs during his term from 1965 to 1986. He also made the longest speech in terms of word count in 1969 with 29,335 words.
President Rodrigo Duterte logged the second longest SONA during his sixth and final speech that lasted for two hours and 45 minutes.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first SONA in 2022 marked the return to a full face-to-face setting since the pandemic started in 2020.Ziannen Santos and Louella Unilongo