SONA 2020 would be “very pinoy”

Director Joyce Bernal on Thursday said the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) of President Rodrigo Duterte this year would be “very Pinoy.”

“This will be for the people, so it will have a different flavor. Pinoy na Pinoy. Easier to understand, and lighter in treatment,” Bernal said during her visit to the House of Representatives in preparation for the SoNA this Monday, 27 July.

Bernal, who has been directing the President’s SoNA since 2018, also said preparations this year are both simpler and complicated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It has become simpler, but it has also become complicated technically, because I think the people here have been limited. But there have also been remote areas that were shot,” she said.

“For the Zoom videoconference, I have an IT person who will be doing it, because I am not well-versed in that,” she admitted.

Unlike in previous years, only a limited number of government officials will be allowed entry to the Batasang Pambansa. Other officials will be joining the annual event via videoconferencing.

Bernal said her team has prerecorded most parts of the program, except for the speech of the President.

“We have prerecorded some individuals. Everything is prerecorded except for the speech ng President, so that there would be less people to work with,” she added.