Duterte channels Lincoln in his message to Congress

I wrote this hours before President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his first state-of-the-nation address to Congress. So I had nothing to report on what he said or the agenda of government that he presented to the nation yesterday.

I discuss here mainly the tradition and some historical tidbits behind the SONA (and its counterpart in the United States—the state-of-the-union message). And I have one aside about Lincoln.