CAN YOU imagine former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo becoming president once again?
A House committee draft federal charter authored by Arroyo herself and other lawmakers contains provisions which could catapult her back to the presidency. While Article XVII, Section 2 provides that the incumbent president and vice president shall continue in office until 2022 it surprisingly states in Section 4 that in case the President dies or is removed from office, the incumbent Senate President takes over instead of the incumbent vice president. It takes out the vice president from the line of succession.
Of course, if the Senate President is also incapacitated or removed from office, the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, which happens to be Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, becomes the president.
The fact that Leni Robredo’s position is under protest is not a justifiable reason to take her out of the line of succession. She is officially the incumbent vice president notwithstanding the election protest of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. If the current constitution is ratified and Robredo subsequently wins the election protest she can no longer be the constitutional successor of the President. This practically negates the will of the voters who voted her vice president on a flimsy and absurd reason that making her the constitutional successor will lead to confusion because of the election protest.
Vice presidents, Senate presidents and even speakers of the House have been subject to election protests in previous occasions but this did not take them out of the constitutional line of succession. So, among the real reasons for the Cha-cha could be to take Robredo out of succession to give Arroyo a shot at becoming president once more should the President suffer incapacity or dies.
Of course, another reason why the vice president is taken out as successor is that the President’s lackeys are afraid she will hold them accountable for their illegal acts when the President was still in power. While constitutions are not designed to fit the personal interest of political leaders, Arroyo’s Cha-cha appeared to be one.
Additionally, Arroyo’s Cha-cha cuts the terms of all the members of the Commission on Elections, Commission on Audit and the Civil Service Commission. Article 17 Section 12 states that the term of office of their officials would cut to one year upon the ratification of the proposed constitution. This gives the President Duterte the power to appoint all the members of all the constitutional commissions.
If this happens, the President would control the commission that oversees our elections, the commission that audits all government transactions and the commission that decides who is suspended or removed in government office.
Don’t blame people for suspecting that Arroyo’s Cha-cha is, among others, nothing more than a power grab and another attempt to become president once more.
