There is conventional wisdom in the adage “if it aint broke, don’t fix it!” The Rules on succession to the Presidency (and Vice Presidency) are clearly laid down in Article VII of the 1987 Constitution. All scenarios are covered: death, permanent disability, inability, removal from office (i.e., impeachment), resignation and failure to qualify.
Rule 1. Succession under Section 7, Article VII
Section 7 states that the President-Elect and the Vice President-Elect shall assume office at the beginning of their terms which shall, under Section 4, be at noon on the 30th day of June next following the day of the election.
The Vice President shall act as President: (1) If the President-Elect fails to qualify, until the President-Elect shall have qualified; and (2) If a President shall not have been chosen, until a President shall have been chosen and qualified. But if at the beginning of the President’s term, the President-Elect shall have died or shall have become permanently disabled, the Vice President shall become President.
Where no President and Vice President (1) shall have been chosen; or (2) shall have qualified; or (3) where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as President until a President or a Vice President shall have been chosen and qualified. And in case of death, permanent disability, or inability of the officials aforementioned (the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives), Congress shall, by law, provide for the manner in which one who is to act as President shall be selected until a President or a Vice President shall have qualified.
Rule 2. Succession under Section 8, Article VII
During the President’s incumbency, he may die or suffer from permanent disability, or is removed from office (by impeachment) or he resigns in any of which cases, the Vice President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term, or if any of said cases should also apply to the Vice President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until a President or Vice President shall have been elected and qualified. But if the Acting President should die, or is permanently disabled, or resigns, Congress shall, by law, provide who shall serve as President and he shall then serve as President until the President or the Vice President shall have been elected and qualified, and he shall be subject to the same restrictions of powers and disqualifications as the Acting President. In this last situation when the Acting President dies, etc., it is understood that the latter is the Speaker of the House of Representatives for if he were the Senate President, said Speaker takes over until the President or the Vice President shall have been elected and qualified.
Rule 3. If there should be a vacancy in the Office of the Vice President
Should a vacancy (not mere absence) occur in the Office of the Vice President during the term for which he was elected, the President shall nominate a Vice President from among the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority vote of the Members of both Houses of the Congress, voting separately (Section 9, Article VII)
Rule 4. Special election to fill up vacancies in the Offices of President and Vice President
Congress shall, at 10 o’clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy in the offices of the President and Vice President occurs, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call and within seven days, enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President and a Vice President to be held not earlier than 45 days nor later than 60 days from the time of such call. The bill calling such special election shall be deemed certified under paragraph 2, Section 26, Article VI of the Constitution and shall become law upon its approval on third reading by Congress. Appropriations for the special election shall be charged against any current appropriations and shall be exempt from the requirements of paragraph 4, Section 25, Article VI of the Constitution. The convening of Congress cannot be suspended nor the special election postponed. No special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs within 18 months before the date of the next presidential election (Section 10, Article VII)
Rule 5. In case the President is unable to discharge the duties of his office
Section 11 of Article VII states in detail the rules as to when the Vice President shall assume the powers and duties of the President because of the latter’s inability to discharge the powers and duties of his office. It will be Congress that shall determine whether or not the President suffers from such incapacity or
inability should there be a conflict on it between the President and the majority of the Members of his Cabinet. Thus:
Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as
Acting President.
Whenever a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet transmit to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall reassume the powers and duties of his office. Meanwhile, should a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet transmit within five days to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Congress shall decide the issue. For that purpose, the Congress shall convene, if it is not in session, within 48 hours, in accordance with its rules and without need of call.
If the Congress, within 10 days after receipt of the last written declaration, or if not in session, within 12 days after it is required to assemble, determines by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, voting separately, that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall act as President; otherwise, the President shall continue exercising the powers and duties of his office.
Rule 6. Should the President suffer from Serious Illness
In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall not be denied access to the President during such illness
(Section 12, Article VII).
The above clear rules on succession to the Presidency (and Vice Presidency) in the 1987 Constitution should end the concern that confusion, chaos and anarchy will prevail should President Rodrigo Duterte suffer serious illness or “coma” permanently or temporarily disabling him from the full and effective discharge of his duties. Likewise, an important “Ople Proposal“ (of then Senator Blas Ople, one of the then Con-con delegates) inserted into the 1987 Constitution requires that the public shall be informed of the state of health of the President should be suffer from serious illness. This Constitutional provision appears to be a reaction to the Marcos regime where speculations on then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos’s serious illness was also rampant.
We wish our President Duterte good health and long life. And when a stream of speculation/rumor/fake news rear its ugly head to the effect that the President is in a “coma” or is undergoing or will be getting secret medical treatment in China, Israel, Russia—chop it off!
Not the President’s head, but the ugly rumors.