{"id":262624,"date":"2020-07-23T05:49:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T09:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=262624"},"modified":"2020-07-23T05:49:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T09:49:43","slug":"duterte-guests-to-undergo-rt-pcr-tests-day-before-sona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/23\/duterte-guests-to-undergo-rt-pcr-tests-day-before-sona\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte, guests to undergo RT-PCR tests day before SONA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The latest health protocol came a day after the Presidential Security Group (PSG) confirmed that eight of its personnel assigned to the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea have tested positive for Covid-19. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte and attendees to his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) will undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests a day before the annual event that will be held on July 27, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte and his guests need to undergo tests to make sure that they are free of Covid-19 before they head to the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City, which is the venue for the Chief Executive\u2019s fifth and penultimate SONA.<\/p>\n

\u201cLahat ng papasok po sa loob ng Batasan<\/em>\u00a0(All those who will go inside Batasan) will be subjected to [RT-PCR] testing on Sunday, the [day] before,\u201d Roque said in a virtual press briefing aired on state-run PTV-4.<\/p>\n

The latest health protocol came a day after the Presidential Security Group (PSG) confirmed that eight of its personnel assigned to the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea have tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The eight PSG personnel who contracted Covid-19 did not have any close contact with Duterte, PSG commander Col. Jesus Durante III ensured on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Roque said \u201cstrict\u201d measures would be in place to protect Duterte and his guests against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The presidential family, members of Congress and their spouses, former presidents, foreign diplomats, government officials, and other dignitaries are usually invited to grace the annual SONA.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte would be accompanied mostly by PSG members.<\/p>\n

He added that 15 Cabinet members and 50 lawmakers are also invited to the SONA.<\/p>\n

Roque said he was unsure whether Medialdea, who already tested negative for Covid-19, can attend Duterte\u2019s penultimate SONA.<\/p>\n

Roque, who will go to the Batasang Pambansa on July 27, could not also confirm the attendance of Duterte\u2019s family to the annual event.<\/p>\n

He said it is understandable if the presidential family skips Duterte\u2019s SONA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would understand if hindi makakarating (they would not be able to join [the SONA]). But I\u2019m not sure. I\u2019m not saying they will not be there,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday said she will skip the fifth SONA of her father to avoid the strict health procedures.<\/p>\n

To mitigate the risk of exposure to Covid-19, Duterte will be delivering his SONA in a chamber separate from guests, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

On his fifth SONA, Duterte is expected to present a roadmap that will help the nation recover from the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte\u2019s SONA will be aired live.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the speech of the President is concerned, sinabi ko na what will definitely be in the speech will be a roadmap for recovery. But as far as the other details are concerned, I\u2019d rather that the nation listen to the President on Monday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte and attendees to his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) will undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":261297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262628,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262624\/revisions\/262628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}