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[[File:Cesar Virata, 1983.jpg|thumb|[[Cesar Virata]] as Prime Minister is the head of the Executive Committee created in 1973. The government body which was later abolished in 1984 could have assumed powers of the President, in an event President Ferdinand Marcos vacated the presidency.]]
[[File:Cesar Virata, 1983.jpg|thumb|[[Cesar Virata]] as Prime Minister is the head of the Executive Committee created in 1973. The government body which was later abolished in 1984 could have assumed powers of the President, in an event President Ferdinand Marcos vacated the presidency.]]


Under the 1973 constitution, the Executive Committee led by the Prime Minister was to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the President, if the President-elect have have died, failed to qualify, or if the President shall not have been chosen.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Muego |first1=Benjamin |title=The Executive Committee in the Philippines: Successors, Power Brokers, and Dark Horses |journal=Asian Survey |date=1 November 1983 |volume=23 |issue=11 |page=1159 |doi=10.2307/2644365 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644365?seq=1 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> If the [[Batasang Pambansa]], the national legislature, [[Vote of no-confidence|withdraws confidence]] in the Prime Minister, the legislature's speaker would have presided over the Executive Committee. In an absence of an Executive Committee, the Batasang Pambansa Speaker would be acting President until a new President was elected or qualified. If the Presidency was vacated with more than 18 months left in the term of the previous president, the Batasang Pambansa is obliged to organize a special election, with the elected president to serve the unexpired term of their predecessor.<ref name=const1973>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1973-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-2/ |website=www.officialgazette.gov.ph |publisher=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref>
Under the 1973 constitution, the Executive Committee led by the Prime Minister was to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the President, if the President-elect had died, failed to qualify, or if the President had not have been chosen.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Muego |first1=Benjamin |title=The Executive Committee in the Philippines: Successors, Power Brokers, and Dark Horses |journal=Asian Survey |date=1 November 1983 |volume=23 |issue=11 |page=1159 |doi=10.2307/2644365 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644365?seq=1 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> If the [[Batasang Pambansa]], the national legislature, [[Vote of no-confidence|withdraws confidence]] in the Prime Minister, the legislature's speaker would have presided over the Executive Committee. In an absence of an Executive Committee, the Batasang Pambansa Speaker would be acting President until a new President was elected or qualified. If the Presidency was vacated with more than 18 months left in the term of the previous president, the Batasang Pambansa is obliged to organize a special election, with the elected president to serve the unexpired term of their predecessor.<ref name=const1973>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1973-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-2/ |website=www.officialgazette.gov.ph |publisher=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref>


The Executive Committee was created under the said constitution, which should have at most 14 members and at least half of which should be Assemblymen. The Executive Committee assists the president in fulfilling their executive function.<ref name=const1973/>
The Executive Committee was created under the said constitution, which should have at most 14 members and at least half of which should be Assemblymen. The Executive Committee assists the president in fulfilling their executive function.<ref name=const1973/>

Revision as of 18:19, 19 May 2021

The Philippine presidential line of succession defines who becomes or acts as President upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office (by impeachment and subsequent disqualification) of a sitting president or a president-elect.

Current order

Rodrigo Duterte takes the oath of office as the 16th president of the Philippines at Malacañang Palace on June 30, 2016. Leni Robredo had taken her own oath of office as vice president hours earlier at a separate venue, securing the presidential line of succession.

The current line of succession to the office of the president of the Philippines is specified by the 1987 Constitution. The line of presidential succession follows the order of: Vice President, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives. In case of death, permanent disability, or inability of these officials, Congress shall, by law, provide for the manner of selection of the person who is to act as President until a president or vice president shall have qualified and the line of succession will change of who those new national officials are.[1].

The line of succession does not include the Chief Justice.[1]

Current line of succession

No. Position Incumbent Party
1 Vice President of the Philippines Leni Robredo

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #f0e68c;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (Philippines)" |

Liberal
2 President of the Senate of the Philippines Vicente Sotto III

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #4AA02C;" data-sort-value="Nationalist People's Coalition" |

NPC
3 Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines Lord Allan Velasco

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #ffd700;" data-sort-value="Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan" |

PDP–Laban

Constitutional provisions

Historical provisions

1973–1984

Cesar Virata as Prime Minister is the head of the Executive Committee created in 1973. The government body which was later abolished in 1984 could have assumed powers of the President, in an event President Ferdinand Marcos vacated the presidency.

Under the 1973 constitution, the Executive Committee led by the Prime Minister was to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the President, if the President-elect had died, failed to qualify, or if the President had not have been chosen.[2] If the Batasang Pambansa, the national legislature, withdraws confidence in the Prime Minister, the legislature's speaker would have presided over the Executive Committee. In an absence of an Executive Committee, the Batasang Pambansa Speaker would be acting President until a new President was elected or qualified. If the Presidency was vacated with more than 18 months left in the term of the previous president, the Batasang Pambansa is obliged to organize a special election, with the elected president to serve the unexpired term of their predecessor.[3]

The Executive Committee was created under the said constitution, which should have at most 14 members and at least half of which should be Assemblymen. The Executive Committee assists the president in fulfilling their executive function.[3]

There was uncertainty regarding the presidential line of succession during the later years of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, particularly in the 1980s. It is implied that the member who was deemed the best performing would be Marcos' successor whose health is already deteriorating.[4] The failing economy at that time also called for the clarity on who exactly would succeed Marcos. In 1983, President Marcos announced who ever was Prime Minister at the time the presidency becomes vacant would succeed him. Among those who were considered as candidates to succeed Marcos are Prime Minister Cesar Virata who was chairman of the committee, and Imelda Marcos who is also a committee member, Marcos' wife and the First Lady.[5] A member of the committee, Emmanuel Pelaez lobbied for a constitutional amendment which would allow Prime Minister Virata to assume as acting president in an event Marcos vacates the presidency while Assemblyman Arturo Tolentino campaigned for the restoration of the post of Vice President.[6]

1984–1987

Another plebiscite was held in 1984 which restored the position of Vice President, as well as restoring the holder of the position as the first in line in the presidential succession. A vice president should have been elected in a scheduled national elections in 1987, which was never held because President Marcos announced snap elections in 1985. The ratified provisions of the 1984 plebiscite also obliged the speaker of the Batasang Pambansa to act as acting president should the presidency be vacated prior to the scheduled 1987 elections.[4] Corazon Aquino was installed as president when President Ferdinand Marcos was removed from office in the People Power Revolution of 1986.

Current provisions

The following are the provisions for the Philippine presidential line of succession of the current Constitution of the Philippines adopted in 1987.[7]

Prior to the start of the term

  • If a president was elected but failed to qualify, the vice president who was elected will act as president until the president qualifies
  • If there was no president elected, the vice president who was elected will act as president until a president is elected and qualifies
  • If at the beginning of the term of the president, the president-elect dies or has become permanently disabled, the vice president who was elected becomes President
  • If neither a president nor a vice president had been chosen or had qualified, or if both had died or had become permanently disabled, the president of the Senate or, in case of their inability, the speaker of the House of Representatives, will act as president until a president or a vice president is chosen and qualifies.

During the term

  • If the president dies, becomes permanently disabled, is removed from office, or resigns, the vice president becomes the president and serves the unexpired term
  • If both the president and the vice president die, become permanently disabled, are removed from office, or resign, the president of the Senate or, in case of their inability, the speaker of the House of Representatives, will act as president until a president or vice president is elected and qualifies
  • If the acting president dies, becomes permanently disabled, is removed from office, or resigns, Congress shall, by law, provide who shall serve as President. They shall serve until the president or the vice president shall have been elected and qualified, and be subject to the same restrictions of powers and disqualifications as the acting president

Succession in practice

In 1944, following the death of Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmeña became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency

Proposed amendments

  • 2018: In line with President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign for the adoption of a federal system of government in the Philippines, the presidential line of succession has been a subject of debate within the House of Representatives in the creation of a draft federal charter. A version of the draft proposed that the Senate president to be next in line in the presidential succession ahead of the vice president in an event Duterte would be unable to perform his duties as President during the transition period to federal form of government.[9] House constitutional amendments panel chairperson Vicente Veloso justified the provision as a means to avert political instability due to the ongoing electoral protest filed by losing candidate Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo at the time. The provision was criticized by Robredo herself who characterized the move as "too desperate".[10]
  • 2019: Senator Panfilo Lacson filed a bill that would expand the presidential line of succession which included a "designated survivor" clause. In addition to the vice president, the Senate president, and the House speaker. Lacson proposed that next set officials in the line of succession would be as follows: the most senior senator, based on the length of service in the Senate; the most senior representative, based on the length of service in the House of Representatives; and a member of the Cabinet designated by the President.[11] The measure was filed as a contingency in an event the president, and the three named officials in the presidential line of succession all died or rendered incapacitated such as a hypothetical terrorist attack during a State of the Nation Address.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ a b "The Executive Branch". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  2. ^ Muego, Benjamin (1 November 1983). "The Executive Committee in the Philippines: Successors, Power Brokers, and Dark Horses". Asian Survey. 23 (11). University of California Press: 1159. doi:10.2307/2644365.
  3. ^ a b www.officialgazette.gov.ph. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1973-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-2/. Retrieved 17 May 2021. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ a b "The Fall of the Dictatorship". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  5. ^ Campbell, Colin (1 November 1983). "Marcos Clarifies Line of Succession". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  6. ^ Quinn-Judge, Paul (30 November 1983). "Succession question in Philippines takes on added urgency". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. ^ www.Batasan.org 1987 Constitution of the Philippines (accessed November 19, 2007).
  8. ^ a b Molina, Antonio. The Philippines: Through the centuries. Manila: University of Sto. Tomas Cooperative, 1961. Print.
  9. ^ Parrocha, Azer (13 October 2018). "Clear line of succession to presidency 'important,' Palace says". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  10. ^ "House to put Robredo back in line of succession of draft constitution". Rappler. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  11. ^ Cervantes, Filane Mikee (29 August 2019). "Lacson wants more exhaustive line of presidential succession". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. ^ Ramos, Christia Marie (31 August 2020). "Lacson pushes for passage of bill naming President's 'designated survivor'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  13. ^ Casayuran, Mario (31 August 2020). "Lacson proposes 'Designated Survivor' bill to extend presidential line of succession". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 17 May 2021.