Only fully-vaccinated individuals allowed to attend SONA — House exec

Only fully-vaccinated individuals will be allowed to physically attend President Rodrigo Duterte's last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26, according to House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza on Monday.

In a virtual interview with reporters, Mendoza said around 350 people would be allowed to attend the SONA.

"As of now ang papayagan sa loob around mga 350 na tao... magkakasama na lahat, senators, congressmen, mga ibang government officials saka ibang guests," Mendoza said.

(As of now, we will allow 350 people. These includes senators, congressmen, other government officials, and guests.)

"Ang ginawa natin kasi, 'yung mag-aattend ng physically sa SONA, 'yung papasok, fully-vaccinated actually. 'Yun ang isa sa requirements na inano ng PSG, ni-require ng House," he added.

(Those who will physically attend the SONA should be fully-vaccinated. That's one of the requirements of the PSG.)

"Kaya naman dinamihan natin ngayon, karamihan naman kasi is fully-vaccinated na. At the same time, nagluwag na rin 'yung IATF so 30% ng capacity ng plenary ay puwedeng gamitin. Pero piling-pili rin talaga ang inano namin, nirequire na talagang fully-vaccinated ka," Mendoza said.

(We add more attendees because a lot have been fully-vaccinated already. The IATF also eased the protocols so we will allow 30% capacity of the plenary. But, we carefully choose who may attend, we require that they should be fully-vaccinated.)

Mendoza said those who would attend will be subjected to RT-PCR and antigen testing. He said the RT-PCR test would be for those who will enter the plenary while the antigen test is for those who are not needed inside the plenary.

"Hindi naman natin pupunuin 'yung plenary eh, plenary siguro mga around 60...the rest kasi nasa first and second gallery siya," Mendoza said.

(We will not fill the entire plenary. We will only allow around 60 individuals inside the plenary.)

Asked about the guest list, Mendoza said former presidents, vice presidents, speakers of the House, and other important personalities are invited.

He also mentioned that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo already confirmed that she would attend the SONA while the others have not confirmed their attendance yet.

Vice President Leni Robredo is also invited to the SONA, Mendoza said, but the former has not confirmed her attendance yet.

He said Zoom links would also be given to those who will not be able to physically attend the SONA.

Meanwhile, Mendoza said the director of this year's SONA would come from government channel, PTV4.

He added the Batasang Pambansa will be placed on lockdown beginning Friday, July 23.

"Ginagawa naman talaga 'yun, normally by Friday lockdown na talaga, wala na talagang pwedeng pumasok sa Batasan starting Friday," he said.

(We are really doing that. Normally, Batasang Pambansa will be placed on lockdown by Friday.) — RSJ/AOL, GMA News