ENDEAVOR
It was not until I heard former Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson discuss with reporters who asked him to comment on an issue involving Vice President Sara Duterte, that I realized it was a matter that deserves serious consideration.
According to media reports, Vice President Duterte said in a video clip that she would not be attending President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa on Monday, July 22. She added that she preferred to be a “designated survivor.”
She was referring, of course, to a popular Netflix serial movie in which a similar scenario in the US was played out. According to a Netflix blurb:
“As a lower-level cabinet member, Tom Kirkman never imagined something would happen that would catapult him to the Oval Office. When a devastating attack on the night of the State of the Union address claims the lives of the president and most of the Cabinet, the Housing and Urban Development secretary — who was named the designated survivor in case of such an event — finds himself promoted to leader of the free world. Suddenly thrust into his new position of power, Kirkman struggles to keep the country from dissolving into chaos and must adjust to his new normal, unaware of what fresh horrors may await the United States.”
How does this foregoing scenario square with real-life events? Writing for Bustle on February 6, 2019, Seth Millstein stated: “CBS News reports that the president and their staff are responsible for selecting the designated survivor, and Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's former lead speechwriter, spoke to The Ringer about the designated survivor selection process in 2016. Favreau initially said that the process is "entirely random," but then backtracked a bit and said that “sometimes, the designated survivor depends on what the president intends to say in (his) speech.”
Wikipedia provides a complete list of all designated survivors appointed by a long procession of US presidents.
Former Senator Lacson’s commentary on Vice President Duterte’s remark is instructive: “This is a rhetorical statement but a good soundbite nevertheless. She is the constitutional successor to the President not needing an appointment as the designated survivor, which by the way is still a pending legislative measure in Congress.”
He said it was important for Congress to enact a Designated Survivor Law to “guarantee the continuity and stability of operations in government” which is mentioned in Section 7, Article VII on Executive Department of the 1987 Constitution, as follows:
“Where no President and Vice-President shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall act as President until a President or a Vice-President shall have been chosen and qualified.
“The Congress shall, by law, provide for the manner in which one who is to act as President shall be selected until a President or a Vice-President shall have qualified, in case of death, permanent disability, or inability of the officials mentioned in the next preceding paragraph.”
Shorn of legalese, these constitutional provisions could be restated as follows: In the event that all of the top four officials — President, Vice President, Senate President, and Speaker of the House — shall have died or rendered permanently disabled to discharge executive functions, their successors shall be those whose selection shall be governed by a process provided for by law.
For greater clarity and emphasis, the quoted Section 7 of Article VII, is followed by Section 8 which states:
“In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both the President and Vice-President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.
“The Congress shall, by law, provide who shall serve as President in case of death, permanent disability, or resignation of the Acting President. He shall serve until the President or the Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified, and be subject to the same restrictions of powers and disqualifications as the Acting President.”
The critical phrase in both Article 7 and Article 8 is “The Congress shall, by law...” Until today, Congress has not passed such law and remains non-compliant with the Constitution. This has enabled the existence of a critical vacuum that is potentially detrimental to the nation’s political stability.
Senator Lacson is quoted by an internal Senate newsletter as having said in 2020: “Because of the failure of Congress to pass the necessary legislation in extending the line of succession beyond the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a constitutional crisis is possible if all four top elected officials, God forbid, die in one event such as the SONA due to a terrorist attack in the Batasang Pambansa, or any occasion where the President and all three officials in the line of constitutional succession are present."
He reiterated this concern when interviewed last week. His proposed measure, docketed as Senate Bill 982, was filed in August 2019; the counterpart House Bill 4062 was subsequently withdrawn by the author, which he said was “unfortunate.”
In Lacson’s proposed succession law, the following elected and appointed officers who are not under any disability to discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President shall act as President in the following order: “the most senior Senator, based on the length of service in the Senate; the most senior Representative based on the length of service in the House of Representatives; and the member of the Cabinet designated by the President.”
The Lacson bill also provides that “before any public or private activity, event or function with the attendance of the President, Vice President and ranking officials, the President shall designate a member of the Cabinet to be sequestered in a secret and secure location.”
Senator Lacson said that he favored senior members of Congress as designated survivors because as elected officials, they enjoy the people’s mandate.
Indeed, Congress needs to pass a law that would enable succession in the dreaded scenario in which all top four elective officials of the country have been eliminated or permanently disabled, thus creating a massive vacuum of leadership that must be filled urgently.