The vice-president is only a heartbeat away from the presidency of the Republic, so we are told in Political Theory class. But theory has become reality a few times in the history of this country since the Commonwealth era.
When he was chosen as the future President Manuel Quezon’s running mate in 1934, little did the gentle Sergio Osmeña expect that he would succeed as president ten years later. When he was chosen as Liberal Party presidential standard-bearer Manual Roxas’s running mate, Elpidio Quirino had no expectation that the apparently healthy Capiceño would suffer a fatal heart attack during his term. Little did Carlos Garcia expect that the dynamic President Ramon Magsaysay would get into a military plane that would slam into one of Cebu’s mountains. And certainly no one expected that less than three years into his term, the very popular movie idol Joseph Ejercito Estrada – he won over the Laban-NUCD Party’s Jose de Venecia Jr. by the highest presidential winning margin in Philippine political history – would be removed from office by a judicial coup d’etat.
A vice-president’s succession to the presidency before the end of the presidential term is not a matter of theoretical possibility; it happens, and it has happened several times in this country.
And it could happen again. The Chief Executive could leave office prematurely through natural causes (for example, Quezon and Roxas), accident (Magsaysay) or extra-constitutional means (Estrada). For this reason, it is essential that every voter in the coming election scrutinize the personal, professional and—in the light of two presidential candidates’ records in office— moral qualifications to be this country’s No. 2 official.
From the professional standpoint, all of the six candidates for vice-president—Leni Robredo, Fernando Marcos Jr., Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV and Gregorio Honasan—are qualified to be vice-presidential aspirants. All six are well-educated. Robredo, Cayetano and Escudero are lawyers, two (Honasan and Trillanes) came from the ranks of the military officer corps and Marcos went to good schools here and in Europe. All six have served in the legislature as senators and/or representatives. All have good records as legislators, with the possible exception of Bongbong Marcos, who was an unproductive senator and came to life only during the Senate review of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law.
On the personal plane, all the vice-presidential candidates except Marcos have clean slates. Honasan and Trillanes were charged with rebellion by the civilian authorities and with violations of the Articles of War by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for their leadership of and participation in military attempts to overthrow the government. Honasan was granted amnesty; the charges against Trillanes were dismissed.
Among the six candidates, Bongbong Marcos sticks out like a sore thumb. Given the multiplicity of hidden-wealth charges filed against him and his family – the Presidential Commission on Good Government has already recovered billions of pesos worth of deposits, real property and works of art from Marcos’ family – many Filipinos thought that he displayed a lot of chutzpah in running for vice-president. One has to be a nincompoop not to be able to see the Marcos game plan: VP in 2016 and a Marcos presidential restoration in 2022.
Leni Robredo has a big plus over her opponents in the domain of service to society. Mar Roxas’ running mate is the only one among the six vice-presidential candidates who has rendered grassroots community service as a lawyer for NGOs (non-government organizations). Robredo has been down there with the poor and marginalized—an experience that her opponents don’t have.
There’s plenty of good vice-presidential material out there in this election. There are Cayetano and Escudero. There are Honasan and Trillanes. And of course there is Robredo. The nation will not—should not – lose any sleep if any of these five candidates were to succeed to the presidency in the event of the premature exit of the elected Chief Executive.
At this point, the vice-presidential race appears to be between Robredo and Marcos. I will end this piece by quoting Mar Roxas’ running mate: “May the best woman win.”
E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com
