Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

As far as Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua is concerned, Vice President Sara Duterte's "designated survivor" joke in connection with the upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) left a bad taste in the mouth. 

"Given current political tensions, such a joke is not in good taste because the security of the President of the Philippines is not a joking or laughing matter," Chua said Thursday afternoon, July 11. 

Chua was referring to Vice President Duterte's interview with reporters earlier that day wherein she confirmed that she would not be attending President Marcos' third SONA on  July 22 at Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City. 

"No, I will not attend sa SONA. I am appointing myself as the designated survivor," she was quoted as saying. 

Designated survivor refers to a person in the presidential line of succession who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together, to reduce the chance that everyone in the line will be unable to take over the presidency in a catastrophic or mass-casualty event. 

For Chua, Vice President Duterte had essentially joked that something bad will happen at Batasang Pambansa Complex on SONA. 

"Great care is taken to ensure the security of the President, especially during the SONA," he said. 

Taking the Vice President's statement to heart, Chua says she doesn't have the power to designate herself as designated survivor anyway.
 
"Strictly speaking, Vice President Sara Duterte does not have that appointing power for a designated survivor because it is the 1987 Constitution that designates the Vice [President] as the first next in line to succeed the President.
 
"To be specific, the two paragraphs of Section 8 of Article VII of the Constitution provides for the succession to the President and to the Acting President. The second paragraph gives Congress the mandate to produce an enabling law for the Acting President situation," he said.

An estimated 2,200 security personnel will be tapped for this year's SONA. This figure is practically at level with the expected guests for the event.