Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo has withdrawn her so-called "Designated Successor" bill which seeks to give the Philippine President the power to choose a temporary successor who is outside the constitutional line of succession.
Castelo, in a statement Sunday, said she was withdrawing House Bill No. 4062 to erase any wrong impression that she is for ignoring or scrapping the constitutional line of succession to the presidency.
“That is not so, far from it. The bill does not remove the line of succession. I am for respecting that provision of the Constitution and the line of succession to the highest office,” said the Metro Manila Development Committee vice-chairperson.
In a letter to House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales, the lady solon said: “I write to respectfully request for the withdrawal and permanent archiving of House Bill No. 4062, which was filed on Aug. 20, 2019."
"Please take note that the said bill has not been acted upon by the Committee on Constitutional Amendments since the date of its filing," Castelo noted.
The bill's full title reads, “An Act giving the President the power to delegate or designate a successor in the unlikely event that the President, Vice President, Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives die or become incapacitated to fill in the role of the President.”
The measure was modeled after a similar practice in the United States, whose system of government the Philippines closely resembles.
Although the bill was filed over a year ago, recent postings and comments about the measure on social media has created the impression that it was a new idea and perhaps a legislative response to news regarding the 75-year-old President Duterte's state of health.