COVID-19 test no longer required for SONA guests, says House exec

Guests and attendees of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24 won’t be required to present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR or antigen test, House of Representatives secretary general Reginald Velasco said Tuesday.

“You won’t need an RT-PCR or antigen test, unless you have symptoms or are unvaccinated. In those cases, you need to have a negative RT-PCR test 48 hours before [SONA],” Velasco told reporters.

For the vaccinated, Velasco said that COVID-19 vaccination card would be required.

“We won’t require a booster. We would just need the primary doses,” he added.

Velasco said the lifting of COVID-19 test requirement is in accordance with the position of Health Secretary Ted Herbosa who earlier recommended to Marcos the lifting of the public health emergency declaration due to COVID-19.

Given the easing of COVID-19 protocols, Velasco said the House expects a packed event.

“We have requested the Senate and the Office of the President to finalize their guest list. With the remodeling, we lost 400 [plenary] seats. But we will have a contingency plan in case we have more guests than usual because we expect more guests than the previous SONA.” Velasco said.

“Hopefully, babalik iyong fashion show...I understand the lifestyle editors are looking at what the guests would wear...because we are almost back to normal,” Velasco added.

Velasco said that the President's second SONA will still have Paul Soriano, Presidential Adviser for Creative Communications, as the director. —LDF/KG, GMA Integrated News