Sara to skip SONA, names self ‘designated survivor'

After skipping the Palarong Pambansa opening, Vice President Sara Duterte is also not attending President Marcos' State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22.

- NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

This is the first time that she will be absent at the event since the pair ascended to power after their team-up scored a landslide victory in 2022.

"No, I will not attend the SONA. I am appointing myself as the designated survivor," Duterte said in an interview yesterday at the inauguration of the Child and Adolescent Neurodevelopment Center in Davao City.

Duterte did not elaborate on what she meant by "designated survivor," which drew negative comments from certain quarters.

In the United States, a "designated survivor" must be secured in case the president and all of the constitutional successors are killed or incapacitated in a terrorist attack or calamity.

Duterte's decision to skip the SONA raised questions about her insistence that she remains friends with Marcos despite her resignation from his Cabinet.