As he was going on and off-script for his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte found himself struggling to read from the teleprompter.

“It’s either I am talking too fast or too slow, or the operator of this thing here is drowsy. Maybe because I had so many ad-libs along the way,” Duterte said on Monday, July 26.

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It was a light moment in Duterte’s speech as he was railing against drug suspects and communists during a big chunk of his address.

Going off-script is a normal occurrence in Duterte’s speeches, and the SONA was not an exception. He practiced ahead of the scheduled address, but his ad-libs have extended his speech beyond the estimated one-hour-long running time. He spoke for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

“When I stop and I’m processing something in the gray matter between my ears, the operator cannot keep up with me,” Duterte said.

At one point, the President stopped addressing the country and spoke to the teleprompter operator. “Hindi bale, Ma’am, mahal pa rin kita,” he said in jest. (It doesn’t matter, ma’am, I still love you.)

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Duterte’s remark prompted members of the audience, mostly lawmakers, to smile and clap.

After that, he didn’t appear to have a problem with reading through the teleprompter anymore. – Rappler.com