Con-Com 2018 Member
Q: Under the draft Constitution, is the general power of the President as Chief Executive modified?
A: It is. The draft vests executive power “of the Federal Republic” on the President. Because of the federal structure of government, federated regions are genuine loci of state and foci of sovereign power, therefore Regional Governors are also repositories of executive power for their regions. In other words, the very federal structure of our government under the draft Constitution constitutes a limit to the powers of the President.
Q: Will the doctrine of “qualified political agency” still be operative under the draft Constitution?
A: Yes, as long as it is understood that cabinet secretaries who are department heads are the “qualified political agents” of the President in respect only to his executive powers over the federal republic. The general principle of the law on agency applies: the agent cannot enjoy any more power than the principal wields.
Q: Why the decision to vote for the President and the Vice-President as a team?
A: The closest ally of the President ideally is his or her Vice-President who should not only stand by and wait until the President is incapacitated or dies but who should as, as political successor, be constantly available for advice or to proffer advice. Philippine history is replete with incidences of antipathy between a President and the Vice President, a situation that has never been helpful to the country. The argument that separate parties should be allowed to provide for checks and balances simply does not make sense because the Vice President is in no way capable of checking the President.
Q: Have the terms of President and Vice-President changed?
A: Yes. Under the 1987 Constitution, they were entitled to a single term of six years that did not allow for reelection. Under the ConCom’s draft, both are given a term of four years, with the possibility of one reelection. And it will be noted that this reckoning of terms has been made a uniform for holders of the national elective office.
Q: What role do the federated regions have in the election of the President and the Vice President?
A: The returns for President and Vice President are certified by the Federated Regions and transmitted to Congress. Congress shall therefore canvass regional returns.
Q: Does the Supreme Court remain the Presidential Electoral Tribunal?
A: Not anymore. It is the Federal Electoral Court to which all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications must be referred. The doctrine enunciated in Forneir v. COMELEC (2004) is still good jurisprudence: The Federal Electoral Court will pass on qualifications only AFTER the election of a President or a Vice President, but when qualifications amount to misrepresentation in the certificate of candidacy it will not be for the Federal Electoral Court to pass upon the matter, but the Federal Commission on Elections.
Q: May a President decide that he will resident where he wants to—with his family?
A: Since residence may be multiple, the direct answer to the question is “yes”, although the Constitution requires that the President have an official residence. While he may factually be absent from such a residence for protracted periods of time and may, in fact, seldom stay there, the presumption of law is that he is there.
Q: If a President should fall ill due to AIDS, can the public claim the right to be informed of his sickness, under the terms of the Constitution?
A: All that drat Section 12 of Article VIII requires is that the public be “informed of the state of health” of the President, in case of illness. There is no requirement of disclosure of diagnosis and prognosis. It will, therefore, be sufficient to announce that the President is seriously ill, that his illness may be life-threatening but that he is still lucid and able, for his sick-bed, to direct the affairs of State.
Q: If a first cousin of the President, who is an outstanding trial court judge, is appointed by the Constitutional Court to the Supreme Court, will any infirmity attend such an appointment, considering that it was not the President who appointed his cousin?
A: The appointment would still be infirm. The prohibition is absolute: No relative within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity shall be appointed to the Supreme Court during the President’s tenure. And this applies to all other offices enumerated in draft Section 13.
Q: Considering the desirability of curtailing the vast powers of the presidency, why was “lawless violence” introduced as an added ground for the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or the declaration of martial law?
A: In the first place, it is not self-evident that curtailing the powers of the president is a good thing for the country. In the second place, “lawless violence” was introduced in the realization that there are some forms of national chaos—triggered by human malice or even natural disasters—that can bring about a state of lawlessness that can only effectively be dealt with by martial law. A spontaneous attack by terrorists, either home-grown, partly “imported” or wholly “imported” would neither be rebellion nor invasion, but may require the resolute action of State to save the life of the Republic. In such cases, the ConCom believed, it would be proper to give the President the latitude of power needed to cope with the emergency.