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<figure class="op-social"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJnYHnVndHw" width="600"></iframe></figure>For his inauguration on Thursday, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte insisted on breaking a lot of traditions, but there may be some that he can&#x27;t change.Jonathan Malaya, co-author of the book &quot;So Help Us God: The Presidents of the Philippines and Their Inaugural Addresses,&quot; noted that Duterte&#x27;s inauguration will definitely reflect his personality, but there are certain stipulations in the Constitution that must be upheld.&quot;He has to take an oath of office enshrined in the Constitution. He cannot change the words there. He has to take it before a ranking member of the judiciary. He chose for this case <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/06/16/16/duterte-to-take-oath-before-sc-justice-bienvenido-reyes">Justice Ben Reyes</a>, which is also a departure from tradition, nonetheless from the Supreme Court,&quot; he told Mornings@ANC on Wednesday.LOOK: <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/v2/06/28/16/throwback-philippine-presidents-inaugurations">Throwback: Philippine Presidents&#x27; inaugurations</a>Though Duterte will not be fetching outgoing President Benigno Aquino III from Malacañang to bring him to Quirino Grandstand because the inaugural will be in the Palace itself, Malaya said there will still be interaction between the two.&quot;President Duterte will be met by outgoing President Aquino, and he is going to sign the presidential guestbook, and then President Aquino will be given departure honors by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In a sense, the tradition is still there,&quot; he said.But the traditions may be ending there, and Malaya said this is not at all negative because it will be reflective of the persona the populace elected into office.&quot;The reason our inaugural is so filled with pomp and circumstance is because the people directly elected him, and the people would like to hear directly from him how he intends to be the president of the country,&quot; he said.Malaya noted that the incoming administration will not host the traditional vin d&#x27;honneur in its fancy state and was scaled down to a so-called &#x27;diplomatic reception,&#x27; serving only maruya, buko juice, and dalandan juice to guests, which reportedly account to a measly 600 headcount.[embed link in &#x27;maruya, buko juice, and dalandan juice&#x27;: http://news.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/06/15/16/maruya-buko-juice-for-dutertes-inauguration-guests]Though the foreign visitors will be received in a smaller scale, Malaya believes this inaugural reception will retain the respect reserved to the diplomats.Duterte will also reportedly deliver a five-minute speech, one of the shortest according to Malaya. The shortest still being President Corazon Aquino&#x27;s inaugural speech in Club Filipino, which simultaneously happened with President Ferdinand Marcos&#x27; in Malacañang.[embed link in &#x27;five-minute speech&#x27;: http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/05/23/16/duterte-to-take-oath-in-palace-give-5-minute-speech]For Malaya, this short speech is indicative of Duterte &quot;raring to start work.&quot;&quot;I think he would only want to just deliver some very broad strokes of what he wants to accomplish because incidentally, he’s going to deliver a SONA (state of the nation address) later on. So he’s going to have two opportunities to deliver policy speeches,&quot; he said.He added this simplicity shows that Duterte is &quot;not really a stickler for protocol and ceremony.&quot;Duterte, who hails from Davao, will also not be delivering his inaugural speech in Filipino like Aquino did in 2010. He will instead speak in English, with a sprinkling of Tagalog and Bisaya.This will also be the first time that the elected vice-president will not be present as the president swears into office, though there were times before that a president took an oath sans a vice-president because there was no vice-president elected with him.Malaya said it is legal for the two top executives to take their oaths separately.&quot;There’s nothing unconstitutional about it because both their terms of office begin on June 30 at 12 noon, but there’s nothing in the Constitution that says they have to be at the same place for them to take their oaths,&quot; he said.Vice president-elect Leni Robredo will be taking her oath at the Quezon City Reception House between 9am until 10:30 am, while Duterte&#x27;s will be at the Rizal Hall of Malacañang around the same time.[embed link in &#x27;Leni Robredo&#x27;: http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/06/23/16/tagalog-speech-guests-in-tsinelas-what-to-expect-during-leni-inauguration]Malaya, meanwhile, lauded Duterte&#x27;s decision to not hold the inauguration at the Quirino Grandstand which could have caused traffic jam.The guests would also be leaving their own cars in the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) grounds in Pasay, then shuttled to the Malacañang palace by bus.

For his inauguration on Thursday, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte insisted on breaking a lot of traditions, but there may be some that he can't change.

Preserving traditions, introducing changes in the inauguration

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Preserving traditions, introducing changes in the inauguration

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 30, 2016 09:42 AM PHT

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