MANILA – Heeding his request, the Consultative Committee (Con-com) banned President Rodrigo Duterte from seeking re-election in the 2022 national elections.
The Con-com, which Duterte formed to review the 1987 Constitution, stated this in the “final official copy” of the proposed federal Charter made publicly available on Tuesday.
“As stated in Section 2 of the revised Article XXII, or Transitory Provisions, the incumbent president is prohibited from running for president in the 2022 elections,” the Con-com said.
In addition, the Con-com proposed an edit in Section 1 of Article XXII to indicate that the term of Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo shall not be extended beyond June 30, 2022.
Duterte shall also call for an election for the Transition President and Vice President in tandem within six months once the federal Constitution is ratified, as stated in Section 3 of the same article.
The Transition President and Vice President “shall preside over the orderly transition to the Federal System of Government” and exercise their powers until June 30, 2022, the Con-com said.
They “shall be ineligible to run for any public office in the May 2022 elections,” it added.
Under a previous draft of the federal Charter, Duterte may seek re-election and stay in power for eight more years, as interpreted by Con-com member Julio Teehankee.
This drew negative reactions from critics, prompting Duterte to ask the Con-com to include in the federal Charter that he cannot seek re-election once the new Charter is ratified./PN
