Under this country’s election laws voters can elect Presidents and Vice Presidents who do not belong to the same political party. As a result of this electoral quirk, five Vice Presidents have been elected to the second highest office in the land alongside a President belonging to another party. The first of the five was elected at a time when there were only two parties—the Nacionalista Party of Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña and the Liberal Party of Manuel Roxas—that vied for political power in this country.
In the 1957 election the voters cast their ballot for a Nacionalista President (Ramon Magsaysay) and a Liberal Vice President (Diosdado Macapagal). In the 1992 election they elected a President and a Vice President belonging to two of the new parties formed under the 1986 Constitution: Fidel V. Ramos of the Lakas-NUCD Party and Joseph Ejercito Estrada of the PDP-Laban Party. In the 1998 election—the President was now limited to one six-year term—the voters did it again: they elected Joseph Estrada as President and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the LDP (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino) as Vice President. For another encore, they elected Benign Aquino III of the Liberal Party as President and Jejomar Binay of UNA as Vice President in the 2010 election. Most recently they elected the pair of Rodrigo Duterte of PDP-Laban and Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party.
I could discuss here the merit or demerit of a system where the President and the Vice President belong to different parties, but I will not do so. Suffice it to say that such a situation is allowed by the 1986 Constitution. Nor does the present Basic Law contain a provision, with regard to a Vice President from a different party, other than that which provides for a Vice President’s succession to the Presidency.
But there is nothing in the Constitution that prevents the President from giving a position—whether of Cabinet rank or not—to his or her non-partymate understudy. President Ramos made Joseph Estrada head of a Presidential Task Force against organized crime. President Estrada made Gloria Arroyo his Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and PNoy Aquino gave Jejomar Binay duties relating to housing, chairmanship of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (and Overseas Filipino Workers).
Sooner or later when the dust of a Presidential election begins to clear, thoughts turn to the role, if any, of a different-party Vice President in an incoming administration. The situation has been the same in the aftermath of the 2016 election. “What shall I do with Leni Robredo” was one of the first major questions that President-elect Duterte had to ask himself as soon as it became clear that he had won the election.
The incoming President has since answered the question. Leni Robredo will not be given any responsibilities in the new administration. Duterte has said that he saw “no compelling reason” to give Robredo any official assignments. And he offered another reason for not giving the new Vice President any responsibilities. Without batting an eyelash, the President-elect said that he did not want to hurt the feelings of Bongbong Marcos, whom Leni Robredo beat in a close contest.
Robredo had no choice but to acquiesce gracefully to Duterte’s “I’m not offering you anything” position in the matter of a role for her in his administration. This was a departure from historical practice, but what else could she say or do?
Rodrigo Duterte and Leni Robredo are both lawyers, and they therefore know that where there is an offeror, there is an acceptor. She has not been offered a position in the incoming administration, but if an offer had been made, should Leni Robredo have indicated acceptance? My answer is No, for two basic reasons.
The first reason is that, whether she likes it or not, Leni Robredo, as the Liberal Party member holding the highest office, is now the Party’s real head. This state of affairs assumes greater importance in the face of the massive ship-jumping that has been taking place in the Liberal Party under the guise of wanting to be part of the latest post-election coalition. As I stated in a recent column about British parliamentary practice, Leni Robredo is now the Philippine equivalent of Leader of the Opposition. Loyal Liberal Party members in and outside Congress need a leader. Leni is that person. She should, nay must, perform a leadership role.
The second basic reason is that where she to allow herself to be co-opted by the Duterte administration, Leni Robredo will necessarily be held partly responsible for its failures and errors and become unable to cite those failures and errors should she decide to run for President—as many will doubtless urge her to do—in 2022. Having been a part of PNoy Aquino’s administration, Jejomar Binay found himself unable to credibly criticize that administration during the recent electoral campaign.
Those who oppose the idea of a position-less Vice President love to cite the example of Diosdado Macapagal, who, having been totally ignored by President Garcia, used the years 1958 to 1961 to prepare for his eventual run against the re-electionist President.
But, professional that she is, Leni Robredo will not want to remain idle, and waste the people’s money during the next six years.
The Vice President can resume her work with marginalized Filipinos—yung mga nasa laylayan—as an NGO leader.
And let us not forget that Leni Robredo is an economist as well as a lawyer. In her capacity as the leader of the Opposition, she can monitor and provide useful inputs to, the economic program of the Duterte administration.
Email: rudyromero777@yahoo.com
