“Civility is already gone and it appears that all gloves are also off”
MAYBE it is time for us to ask ourselves whether we should be changing the way we elect our Vice President.
We are perhaps the only country with a Presidential form of government where our Vice President can go against the President like what has been going on between the two of them to the extent that the VP even threatened to have the President, his wife and the Speaker of the House killed if something happens to her.
Civility is already gone and it appears that all gloves are also off. This is possible because we elect our President and Vice President separately as mandated by our constitution.
Historically, we have seen many occasions wherein our Presidents and Vice Presidents do not see eye to eye politically but those differences have never gotten out of hand with threats of bodily harm.
Common sense will tell us that we cannot afford our two highest elected officials to be constantly bickering because this will only harm the interests of the country by diverting attention from more pressing national problems.
Just imagine what will happen to the country if VP Sarah Duterte continues attacking the administration until 2028. In fact we are already experiencing the effect of what is going on as our country’s reputation in the eyes of the international community of nations has already been tarnished.
Will this simmer down so the government can buckle down to attending the problems that the country is currently experiencing?
The way things are going, it is doubtful. Some groups have filed impeachment charges against the Vice President in spite of the call of PBBM that impeaching the VP will not solve anything and will only distract the country’s attention from more important issues.
Once filed, the process has to be followed and will take time before it is resolved with a verdict by the Senate. The Vice President for her part remains unbowed.
The best, however, is to find a solution so this kind of situation is permanently eliminated.
There are in fact some solutions to consider. One is changing the manner of electing our Vice President by perhaps aligning the process similar to the way the United States is doing.
This way, we will not have a Vice President squabbling with his or her President like the way it is going on.
The United States realized the pitfalls of electing the two highest officials separately early on and, therefore, made their election in tandem beginning in 1804 with the ratification of the 12th amendment of their constitution.
For us, we have elected three Vice Presidents since 1987 from different parties. Our current President and Vice President did belong to the same party but had a very acrimonious parting that it has now gotten the country agitated.
We will, of course, need to amend the Constitution which is a political minefield and difficult to do, but necessary to solve a major political problem which should no longer be allowed to continue.
This was in fact suggested before but no one followed it thru but with the present situation, now is perhaps the best time to do it.
There will undoubtedly be some people who would prefer not to disturb the current system because of the mistaken belief that a VP can be a counter balance to an abusive and corrupt President.
But as one writer said, that is not the job of a VP. Besides, looking at it from all angles, the benefits far outweigh the disbenefits.
To prove this, we simply have to look at all the previous administrations since 1987, most especially the current and the last administrations to compare how all the Vice Presidents performed their functions and their relationship with their Presidents.
In the last administration, the VP belonged to a different party but did not create problems for the administration even when she was thoroughly sidelined by her President. Instead, she labored quietly earning praises from various sectors.
We know all about the current situation. Originally allies but now sworn enemies. That should be lesson enough for the country. It’s time to change.
