The first standing ovation to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s State of the Nation Address (Sona)
came close to the end – after more than an hour of data presentation – when he declared in his native language:
“The West Philippine Sea [WPS] is not just a figment of imagination. It is ours.”
Another standing ovation came at the end when he announced a ban on Pogos (Philippine Online Gaming Operations), a sector notorious for its links to illegal activities targeting Chinese clients.
For former congressman Barry Gutierrez, those two aspects were the highlights of Marcos Jnr’s speech on Monday, an event delivered to Congress annually by the country’s president and to inform the public on policies.