SOME SOUND ADVICE FOR YOUR CHOICE OF VICE PRESIDENT

The campaign is in full swing and we’ve recently just concluded the CNN Vice Presidential Debates.  And what a debate it was!  It was certainly a more provocative and intellectual discourse than the Presidential debates, and with a fair amount of politicking, considering that most of the candidates are members of the Legislature.

Vice Presidential Debates Part 2 (Audio Only)

This is also a very good time to be giving some advice when you make your choice of Vice President on the ballot.  My advice is simple:  Vote for the one whom you would most like to see sitting as President.

The reason for this is that the Vice President is considered as the “substitute President” or the “President-in-waiting”, a “spare tire”, so to speak.  The 1987 Constitution does not give the Vice President any role in government, instead it provides in Article VII:

Section 7. The President-elect and the Vice President-elect shall assume office at the beginning of their terms.

 

If the President-elect fails to qualify, the Vice President-elect shall act as President until the President-elect shall have qualified.

 

If a President shall not have been chosen, the Vice President-elect shall act as President until a President shall have been chosen and qualified.

 

If at the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died or shall have become permanently disabled, the Vice President-elect shall become President.

 

Where no President and Vice-President shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall act as President until a President or a Vice-President shall have been chosen and qualified.

The Congress shall, by law, provide for the manner in which one who is to act as President shall be selected until a President or a Vice-President shall have qualified, in case of death, permanent disability, or inability of the officials mentioned in the next preceding paragraph.

Section 8. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both the President and Vice-President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.

The Congress shall, by law, provide who shall serve as President in case of death, permanent disability, or resignation of the Acting President. He shall serve until the President or the Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified, and be subject to the same restrictions of powers and disqualifications as the Acting President.

Please dwell on the phrase “...the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term”.  This phrasing means that the Vice President literally becomes the President in case of the President's death, permanent disability, removal from office, resignation or disqualification.  The Vice President becomes a President.  Additional support for this is that the Vice President shares the same age, citizenship and literacy requirements as the President.

Why is this important?

Two of our recent Vice Presidents have acted as “shields” for the President, helping to insure that they stay in office.  Noli de Castro during President Arroyo’s term and the incumbent Vice President Jejomar Binay in this present Aquino administration.  Both of the Presidents they served under have faced impeachment complaints and been asked to resign, but the intelligentsia in both cases have not supported such moves because the would-be successor was not seen as an acceptable alternative: Noli de Castro was considered weak; and Jejomar Binay is considered corrupt.  The sitting President was considered the lesser evil.  Indeed, this very situation seems so absurd, it shows great disrespect our system of Presidential succession and a failure to understand the duties of the Vice President.

Let me be clear, I do not want to see this situation happening in the next administration.  Indeed, the next administration may very well see a Vice President succeed to the Presidency.  Let us go over the candidates:

Duterte – He pledged that he will end criminality in 6 months, after which, will resign. 

Defensor-Santiago – Sick with cancer and with one foot in the grave, bless her soul.

Llamanzares – Contrary to appearances, the decision in Poe vs. COMELEC leaves a disqualification case open at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.  She may win the elections, but she may still be disqualified.

Binay – The plunder cases filed against him may also disqualify him even if he were to win the elections.

Roxas – He is so far down in the polls that in the unlikely event he will win, it will be because of cheating and he may just get disqualified.

The Candidates

(Source: globalbalita.com)

The possibility of a Vice President succeeding to the Presidency is very real.  Vote for the one whom you would most like to see sitting as President.