Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday said there is no constitutional impediment for the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in next year’s national elections, saying he would not be the only former president who would seek a lower elective position in the country.
In a speech before a virtual forum organized by the Rotary Clubs of Makati, Cebu, and Davao, Guevarra stressed that President Duterte would not be violating the Constitution if, after his term as president, he would run for vice president.
Guevarra cited former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former President Joseph Estrada, who both ran and won lower positions in government.
Arroyo, who served as the country’s Chief Executive from 2001 to 2010, was elected as member of the House of Representatives representing the second congressional district of Pampanga, and she even became the House Speaker from 2018 until 2019.
Estrada, after ending his brief term as Chief Executive from 1998 until 2001, later ran and won as mayor of the City of Manila, a position he held from 2013 until 2019.
“There is nothing in the wording of our present Constitution that prohibits the sitting President from running for the position of vice president. What the Constitution expressly prohibits is for him to be reelected and when we speak of reelection, we are talking about the same position as what he is currently holding… That is clear in the Constitution,” Guevarra emphasized. Rey E. Requejo
In the event that Duterte succeeds in becoming the next vice president and something happens to the president who would win in the May 2022 national polls, Guevarra argued that Duterte could assume the role as president once again.
“That is precisely the role of the vice president to take over if the elected president dies in office, becomes permanently incapacitated or resigns. That is the role of the vice president, and people are expected to understand that that will happen should they vote for a particular person, to the position of vice president,” the Justice Secretary pointed out.