Whether or not several opposition senators show up to Monday’s State of the Nation Address changes nothing about the event itself, Malacañang said, dismissing a planned walkout by members of the Senate minority ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth annual address.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro told reporters that lawmakers choosing to stay away carry no weight against the substance of the day. “Hindi sila kawalan. Ang importante dito ang mensahe ng Pangulo, ang importante dito ay ang presensya ng Pangulo at ‘yung mga taong interesadong madinig ang mensahe ng Pangulo,” she said.
She extended the same point to anyone indifferent to what Marcos has to say. “So sa mga taong walang interes at maybe ayaw nilang madinig ang Pangulo, hindi sila kawalan. Matutuloy at matutuloy ang SONA kahit wala sila,” Castro added.
The senators skipping the address have tied their absence to grievances over the treatment of the chamber’s minority. Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Imee Marcos both confirmed they would not appear in person at the Batasang Pambansa, with Imee Marcos telling Philstar that Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, and Robinhood Padilla had likewise opted out. Several of them wore black during the Senate session earlier in the day. Cayetano, who said he would follow the speech on television, is set to deliver the minority’s counter-SONA on Tuesday, a standing parliamentary custom that lets opposition senators offer their own reading of the country’s condition.
Two members of the bloc are absent for reasons beyond protest. Senator Jinggoy Estrada has been held in Quezon City since June over plunder charges connected to the flood control controversy, while Senator Ronald dela Rosa has not been seen publicly since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant against him over the Duterte-era drug war, according to Philstar.
Security around the capital drew separate attention from the Palace after an early-morning explosion. Castro pressed authorities to raise their guard following a blast near the Department of Justice and the recovery of a suspected improvised explosive device close to the Senate, telling the Philippine News Agency that protection for the President must stay at its highest level no matter the circumstances. The DOJ said the explosion struck near its Padre Faura Street entrance in Ermita at 12:17 a.m. Monday, with no casualties reported and the compound secured while investigators examine the site. Police recovered the second device—described in Manila Bulletin’s account as a jar of suspected explosive material rigged with a clock, a blasting cap, and a battery—along Diokno Boulevard in Pasay before safely neutralizing it.
More than 20,000 police officers were positioned across Metro Manila to lock down key sites, roadways, and gathering points tied to the address, one of the largest security deployments the country mounts each year. Investigators have not determined whether the two incidents are linked.
The constitutional basis for the gathering is fixed: Article VII of the 1987 Charter requires the president to address Congress at the opening of its regular session each fourth Monday of July. Marcos is scheduled to speak at the House plenary hall at 4 p.m., marking the first SONA presided over jointly by House Speaker Faustino Dy and Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.
