By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Following the apparent “bad joke” of Vice President Sara Duterte appointing herself as the designated survivor after declaring that she won’t attend the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of her 2022 running mate President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Saturday (13 July 2024) said it will be deploying 1,329 personnel to assist in traffic management on that specific event.

This came on the heels of the announcement of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that it will be deploying 22,000 police personnel for the third SONA of the President on July 22, 2024, at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

It will be the first time the Vice President will skip the SONA of PBBM following their stirring electoral victory in the 2022 national elections running in tandem with UniTeam.

A nationwide gun ban will also be imposed nationwide on that day, the MMDA said.

At the Saturday News Forum, MMDA Traffic Operations Officer Manny Miro disclosed that they will be in charge of traffic management for vehicles and pedestrians and serve as emergency respondents on SONA day.

Miro said MMDA personnel will also conduct road and sidewalk clearing and monitor traffic on highways leading to Batasan.

Earlier, House Secretary General Reginald “Reggie” S. Velasco told reporters that protest rallies will be prohibited near the Batasan building.

On Friday (12 July 2024), House Senior Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales castigated VP Sara for uttering such a statement, saying that she will not attend the SONA as she is the “designated survivor.”

“Implying that something bad will happen when President Marcos Jr. delivers his SONA is a very serious matter that warrants an investigation. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, especially coming from a very popular Vice President who garnered a resounding 32 million votes in the last presidential elections,” Gonzales noted.

VP Sara, however, did not expound on her statement that widely drew flak from many quarters for being “insensitive.”

Political observers noted a hit television series titled “Designated Survivor,” which has US and South Korean versions, that similarly unfolded with the President delivering his state address when bombs suddenly blasted the entire venue, killing many attendees, including the President and all public officials in the line of succession.

As such, the unwilling “designated survivor” in the movie took his oath of office and assumed the seat of power.

Duterte’s “bad joke” also drew a negative remark from Manila Congressman Joel Chua saying it was uncalled for and unnecessary for the second most powerful government official of the land to designate herself as such because, under the law on succession, she is next in line and would automatically assume power any moment the chief executive becomes incapable dispensing his or her mandate.     

With reports from Lizelle Soriano (el Amigo/mnm)