(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte is seen here standing at the podium before he started his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 23, 2018 together with Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
At the start of his speech around 5:20 p.m., President Duterte also referred to both leaders of Congress — Senator Sotto as Senate President and Congressman Alvarez as House Speaker.
This was amid a surprising ouster move of the House leadership where Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took her oath as the new House Speaker just before 4 p.m., the time when the SONA was supposed to start.
During the President’s SONA speech, however, more than an hour later, he made no mention of Rep. Arroyo as the new House Speaker.
