Ex-congressman warns of abolition of Robredo’s post

By Minde Nyl R. dela Cruz

THE OFFICE of the Vice-President (VP) may be abolished should a new constitution be in place on the watch of the ruling PDP-Laban, warned a former congressman.

In a news release, Bayan Muna chairman and former congressman Neri J. Colmenares said: “Under the PDP-Laban Constitution, the Office of the Vice-President will be abolished by 2019 if they succeed in having the new Constitution ratified during the 2019 elections. Vice-President [Maria Leonor G. Robredo] will be ousted from her office long before her term ends in 2022.”

Mr. Colmenares also noted that the proposal, which he described as “self-serving,” does not include a transitory provision for the Vice-President and does not list the second highest official as successor to the President.

“Even if VP Robredo is allowed to stay until 2022, she will be a lame-duck Vice-President who is not even listed in the line of succession to [President Rodrigo R. Duterte],” Mr. Colmenares said.

Section 7 of Article VII of PDP-Laban’s proposal states: “In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the President of the Senate, or in case of his inability, the Speaker of the Federal Assembly shall then act as President until the President shall have been elected and qualified.”

The proposed Section 6 of Article VII of the PDP-Laban’s version of the new Charter also states that the Senate President or the Speaker of the Federal Assembly shall act as President if the President-elect fails to qualify.

The current 1987 Constitution designates the Vice-President as the next in line in case of the chief executive’s inability to perform his duties.

PDP-Laban’s proposal also extended the term of the President and those of the senators and of the Federal Assembly from three years to five years, all of whom may be elected for two consecutive terms.

“[T]he same PDP-Laban Cha-cha (charter change) contains no express provision disqualifying Pres. Duterte from running for President in 2022. In fact, under Section 3, Article VII of the PDP-Laban Constitution it allows the President to run for a second term,” Mr. Colmenares said.

He added: “The problem is, while PDP-Laban wants to lengthen the terms of congressmen from [three] years to [five] years, they are practically cutting the term of the second highest official under the 1987 Constitution.”

The Bayan Muna leader said this would make the pending electoral protest for the position of the Vice-President “moot as the second highest official under the new Constitution is no longer the Vice-President but the Senate President and House Speaker.”

Sought for comment, a legal adviser of Ms. Robredo questioned the “agenda” behind the proposed charter.

“[T]he current proposals to revise the Constitution are supposedly anchored on a drive to promote and institute a federal system of government. The question therefore is, how does abolishing the OVP relate to the establishment of Federalism? Or is the abolition already in service of some other, unstated, agenda?” lawyer Ibarra M. Gutierrez III said in a statement sent to the media.

Mr. Gutierrez noted that the OVP “has been a feature of our Republic for over 80 years, ever since it was created under the 1935 Constitution” and that the only time there was no VP was “during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.”