President Rodrigo R. Duterte delivers a speech before the San Beda Law Alumni Association during the Testimonial Dinner Reception at the Kalayaan Hall of Club Filipino in San Juan City on July 14. (MNS photo)
MANILA, July 18, (Mabuhay) – Incoming Finance Department spokesperson Paola Alvarez on Monday said the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte will no longer be a collision of politics and Filipino fashion in an attempt to “step away from the norm.”
Alvarez, daughter of incoming House Speaker Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez who also served as the spokesperson of PDP-Laban during the campaign period and currently helping with the SONA preps, said that the event on July 25 will center on the message of the President that guests, especially the ladies, will be asked to tone down their sartorial picks.
“We will downplay the event. It will not be a fashion show. We want to center on the what the President’s message is to our people especially it’s his first State of the Nation Address. So it will be a different take because our guests will be requested not to wear their gowns as what we have previously been seeing in the past SONAs,” she said.
Guests will be asked to wear business attire. Female guests have the option to wear a Filipiniana but only if it is knee-length. She said that this will be SONA’s new dress code under the Duterte administration.
“During the previous SONAs, most people see that this is an occasion where people tend to flaunt their gowns, their dresses. We want to step away from this norm that has become and we want to bring back the real essence of the State of the Nation,” Alvarez explained.
In keeping with their goal to focus on Duterte’s message, she also said that they also planned to minimize the number of people who will greet the President when he arrives at the Batasan Pambasa. Only the House Speaker and the Senate President will be there to greet him and the majority leaders of both Houses will escort him inside the plenary hall.
“Director Brillante Mendoza wants to emphasize on how the formalities are done,” Alvarez said. (MNS)