ELECTION LAW – ATTY.

PASCASIO

Discuss whether President Duterte is eligible to run for Vice President given his admitted desire
to continue enjoying presidential immunity after 30 June 2022 in anticipation of a criminal
prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

President Duterte is eligible to run for Vice President.

The Constitution provides in Article VII, Section 4 that the President and the Vice-President shall
be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the
thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date,
six years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any re-election. No person who has
succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for
election to the same office at any time. No Vice-President shall serve for more than two
successive terms.

As President Duterte is not running for re-election for the presidency but rather for the vice-
presidency, he should be eligible to run. What the Constitution prohibits is the re-election of the
President. Moreover, what it further prohibits is that once elected as a vice-president and serving
for two successive terms, there can be no running for the same position. In this case, President
Duterte has yet to serve for the first time, the position of Vice-presidency if elected. Therefore, he
can still run for vice-presidency.

The term limit was placed there precisely because of the country’s painful experience under the
government of former abusive presidents who were once elected by the people but failed to fulfill
their promises and were defeated by their greed for power.

For the reason of President Duterte in running for Vice-President to be immune from criminal
prosecution by the International Criminal Court has no merit. Jurisprudence dictates that only the
President, the State, and members of the diplomatic corps under international law, are immune
from suit. In the case of the President, he has to be protected from suits for him to concentrate on
the business of running the government. He cannot be left attending to personal lawsuits left and
right, instead of performing his job as the President. There is no doctrine in constitutional or
political law that serves as a legal basis or rationale for immunity from suit of the vice-president,
other than for the President (Estrada v Desierto).

Moreover, under Sections 2 and 3 of Article VII of the Constitution, no person may be elected
President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read
and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines
for at least ten years immediately preceding such election. There shall be a Vice-President who
shall have the same qualifications and term of office and be elected with, and in the same manner,
as the President. He may be removed from office in the same manner as the President.

President Duterte, having all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications will be eligible to
run for the position of Vice-President.

DE GUZMAN, ANDREA G.
2020400511