If VP Duterte is found guilty…
Vice President Sara Duterte has yet to present her evidence in her impeachment trial on Nov. 9 (the date set by the senator-judges for that purpose) and there are already talks about the appointment of her successor.
Sen. Francis Escudero, who is the presiding officer of the impeachment trial, has served notice that he is not interested in and would decline any offer to become vice president in case she is found guilty and removed from office.
He said it is inappropriate for any of the senator-judges who were involved in the impeachment trial to assume the position of the official they ousted.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who has openly declared his opposition to the impeachment trial, lauded Escudero’s stance and called on his fellow senators not to accept any offer to become vice president and to remain politically neutral in their evaluation of the evidence presented.
The emergence of the issue of succession to the VP’s office ahead of Nov. 9 and the casting of the votes of the senator-judges is intriguing. Its timing is suspicious.
Whoever was behind the surfacing of that issue may be subliminally floating the idea that, regardless of the evidence that may be presented by the VP’s lawyers, the Senate would eventually convict her for unexplained wealth, which is the only remaining charge in the trial.
The succession talk looks like a subtle psychological ploy to lower the morale of the VP’s lawyers at this stage when they are finalizing their defense strategy.
They were earlier caught flat-footed by the prosecution’s surprise move (which was allowed by the impeachment court) to withdraw three charges they had filed against the VP, after they had presented several witnesses and voluminous documents to substantiate those charges, with full TV and social media coverage.
All the time, money, and efforts they may have spent to controvert those withdrawn charges went down the drain. The withdrawal must have been a bummer to the lawyers assigned to handle the presentation of contrary evidence.
Now, they’re working under an invisible cloud that the number of votes needed to convict their client (whether 16 or 14 votes) may have already been secured and that the impeachment court may be just going through the motions when the trial resumes.
Something like “it’s all over except for the counting.”
Note that filling up a vacancy in the Office of the Vice President is not a novel issue in the country’s political history.
In 2001, shortly after then President Joseph Estrada was hounded out of the presidency by mass action and then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over as president, then Sen. Teofisto Guingona Jr. was appointed vice president by President Macapagal Arroyo.
Under the Constitution, a vacancy in the Office of the Vice President is filed when the president nominates a new vice president from among the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, who shall assume that office after the nomination is approved by a majority vote of all members of the two legislative chambers.
That provision would automatically kick in in case (knock on wood) VP Duterte is found guilty by the impeachment court of culpable violation of the Constitution or graft and corruption arising from her alleged unexplained wealth.
If that happens, President Marcos would have to choose from among any member of Congress her successor and ask the two congressional chambers to approve the nomination.
Although the appointment of Guingona to the vice presidency cannot be considered a precedent that has to be observed if a similar situation arises in the future, the odds of a senator being appointed vice president are, all things fair and equal, may be higher than that of a member of the House.
Since senators are elected nationwide, they may, in theory, be considered to have a national constituency that matches the position of vice president, who under regular elections is elected based on the number of votes he or she receives from all voting sectors of the country.
Note also that compared to the House, the Senate has, under the Constitution, a broader area of authority and responsibility over the affairs of the national government, which includes foreign affairs and resolution of impeachment cases.
This is not to denigrate the competence and integrity of the members of the House, but it is common knowledge that majority of them have, on account of the breadth or nature of their election, localized or parochial views about issues of national governance.
Cayetano’s call for the senators to spurn any offers for appointment to the vice presidency in case VP Duterte is convicted by the impeachment trial may appear ethically sound, but given the constitutional provision and the realities of national governance, it is completely misplaced.
For obvious reasons, it’s a cinch he would not be in the list of prospective nominees if a vacancy in the vice presidency happens after the impeachment trial.
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