UNDER the Constitution, the right of the vice president to succeed the president if he resigns, or for whatever permanent cause, does not depend on what anyone thinks of the VP’s competence.
President Duterte earlier said he’d be willing to cut short his term for a transition government, led by someone else, to oversee the shift to federalism. However last Tuesday, he backed off by calling out VP Leni Robredo’s “incompetence.” “Siya ang mag-presidente? I will not resign because it will make her president,” he said.
Rule on succession
Duterte must very well know the rule on succession when he made the latest promise to resign and hurled those earlier threats to quit. The Constitution doesn’t say the VP waits on the wings for the president to resign, collapse, or otherwise cease to breathe. It does say the VP takes over in case of a permanent vacancy caused by death, resignation, removal from office, or incapacity.
Apparently, he was just teasing her and, if one regards him as mean, he created the occasion to, in the word of Sen. Ping Lacson, “disrespect” her.
Protocol
Duterte’s oft-repeated line “I’d quit if...” is also a manner of sounding people out if they still want him. But often the condition is improbable or sets no tipping point. So many people tend to suspect it as gimmickry.
The system requires a procedure for creating and filling vacancies. Duterte said he’d resign to the people who voted for him. How is that done? By recall? That mechanism is not voluntary; it’s a recourse against an unpopular president whom some sectors might want to step down but refuses to do so. Not resignation in any form.
Voted by the people
The president offered to reduce his term to three years when he knew it would be Robredo who’d take over. When later he took back his offer, he lashed at her by publicly proclaiming Leni unfit for the highest office. She was not Duterte’s choice but she was voted for by the people, and vice versa: Robredo did not pick him but the people by plurality of votes did.
Competence or fitness was theoretically decided by the voters. It is not one of the qualifications listed for the positions of president and vice president but it is implicitly judged upon by the vote that elects them to office.
And here’s the thing: when voters elected Leni, the vote was not just for her to serve as VP; it was also for her to serve as president if the office would become vacant during her term. Often neglected by voters is that when they vote for a VP, they also elect a probable future president.
Different bar
Robredo has yet to display acts that prove her unfitness to occupy the presidency. She has not been given the chance to do so. By shutting her out of the Cabinet, Duterte lost the chance to showcase her alleged ineptness. “Sayang, makita sana ang kanyang walang kakayahan.”
Besides, the standards used by the president on Leni are most likely those he has used on his own performance. Of course, she could not meet them. It’s an entirely different bar.
But, to be sure, Duterte has the right to pass judgment on his VP, especially one who has also been criticizing him. The only difference is that Robredo talked against specific views and policies she disagreed with, not a sweeping judgment on Duterte’s competence to lead.