Concerned over the supposed difficulty of the ruling party to find a running mate for Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, a senior administration congressman floated Thursday the possibility of fielding President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s vice presidential bet.

Rep. Danilo Suarez, who heads the party’s chapter in Quezon, admitted that while the party’s mind-set is to back Arroyo’s congressional bid in Pampanga and later as speaker of the House of Representatives, the chief executive should be a cinch in the vice presidential race.

Reacting to Suarez’s suggestion, Bayan Muna Rep. Nery Colmenares vowed to immediately raise the issue before the Supreme Court should Mrs. Arroyo be drafted to become Teodoro’s running mate.

“That is a dangerous proposition. Kasi kapag vice president siya, she can be the president again, being the number 2, kapag namatay ang president,” Colmenares, a lawyer, said during the Usaping Balita News Forum in Quezon City.

Suarez’s suggestion came in the wake of reports that the LKC has lost to the Nacionalista Party in its bid to get Sen. Loren Legarda to team up with Teodoro, the ruling party’s standard bearer, in 2010.

Ray Roquero, party deputy secretary general, for his part said the party is eyeing Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. as the defense chief’s running mate.

Suarez, who was also guest at the news forum, said the party has been discussing Mrs. Arroyo’s political plans after her term ends in 2010 and a congressional seat appears to be a popular choice.

Suarez, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight, said Arroyo can become the “best Speaker in the history of the Lower House” should she win a seat in Congress and eventually the speakership.

“Based on our assessment of her performance from 2004 up to the present, President Arroyo fared well in delivering what she had promised. However, she could have done a better fiscal performance had there been no shortfalls in legislative performance,” he explained.

“Pero maganda rin iyan if she will run for vice (president). There is nothing in the law that says she cannot run for vice president,” the Quezon solon added.

Suarez stressed that Arroyo’s running for either vice president or speaker will have parallel effects in continuing what she had started as president.

With two weeks to go before its national convention, the LKC appeared to be running out of options for its vice presidential bet.

The position has already been rejected by Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos.

In an apparent bid to attain regional balance, party leaders have raised the possibility of getting Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and Speaker Prospero Nograles, who all hail from the south, but all three are not faring well in poll surveys.

With Legarda reportedly out of the picture, Revilla seemed to be the only remaining option for the party.

Meanwhile, legal experts in the House of Representatives said President Arroyo need not resign from the presidency once she files her certificate of candidacy (COC) for a seat in Congress next year.

House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong and Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan rejected as inaccurate claims that Mrs. Arroyo would be abandoning her executive position once she files her COC for Pampanga’s second district.

Datumanong, a former justice secretary, said Mrs. Arroyo’s COC filing, if she ultimately decides to run for Congress, would not be tantamount to her abandonment of the presidency.

“President Arroyo, if she will run for other elective position, will not be deemed resigned from her position as president. That is the law,” Datumanong said.

The lawmaker from Maguindanao province pointed out that Article 7 Section 4 of the Constitution provides that the President shall have a six-year term “which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date, six years thereafter.”

“Hence, the President’s term will end on June 30, 2010. She cannot be compelled to resign even if she files her COC to run for a congressional seat in the May 2010 polls,” he said.

Domogan, a lawyer and senior vicechairman of the House Committee on Justice, shared Datumanong’s views.

“To say that PGMA will be abandoning her post and her mandate to the people once she files her COC is totally wrong and distorted. The law is clear on this,” Domogan said.

Domogan explained that in the past, if an incumbent runs for another position, he is considered resigned under Section 67 of the Omnibus Election Code.

However, since Sec. 67 was repealed by Section 14 of Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Election Act which was enacted on February 12, 2001, the President, like others who would run for other positions, does not need to resign nor is required to resign, he added.