The country’s vice president has “no immunity from suit” during his or her term of office.
This was stressed by National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre U. Ulalia on Saturday night, July 17.
Olalia reacted to President Duterte’s statement that he (the President) may run for the post of vice president in the 2022 elections to avoid lawsuits.
Duterte issued the statement after he pointed out the threats made by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and retired Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio to file lawsuits after his term ends.
“Sabi ng batas, na kung Bise Presidente ka, may immunity ka. Eh, ‘di tatakbo na lang ako ng Bise Presidente (The law says that if you’re the Vice President, you will have immunity. I will just run then),” the President said.
“That is rewriting the Constitution and even jurisprudence,” Olalia said.
“Only the President is immune from suit and this is not even spelled out in the present ‘87 Consti(tution) -- unlike in ‘73 Marcos Consti(tution) - but only recognized in prevailing jurisprudence,” he noted.
He also said the statement made by Duterte is “either a ‘Freudian’ slip or he has premeditated naughty intentions for now-he-is-not-running-now-he-is-running plans for VP.”
“Freudian” relates to influences by German Sigmund Freud and his methods of psychoanalysis.