Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Enrile: Duterte may legally run for vice president

Run Duterte run?

Former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile believes there is no legal obstacle to a potential vice presidential bid of President Duterte.

In his latest Facebook post, Enrile argued that nowhere in the Constitution stated that the President cannot run for vice president or another public office after a term has ended. The Constitution merely states the President is not eligible for reelection, he said.

“If President Duterte runs for Vice President in 2022, is he eligible to do so? My humble reply is: He may legally do so,” Enrile wrote on Facebook.

“There is no express provision of the Constitution allowing him, as President of the Philippines, to run for Vice President. The Constitution simply says: ‘The President shall not be eligible for any reelection.’ Article VII, Section 4). For me, the ordinary meaning of the word “reelection” is to be elected again for the same office,” he said.

He also said the office of President and the office of Vice President of the Philippines are two different and separate offices.

“If Leni Robredo, the present Vice President, should run for president in 2022, she would not be considered as ‘reelecting’ herself. So also, if President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should run for the office of Vice President of the Philippines in 2022, by the same token, he would not be deemed ‘reelecting” himself,'” he said.

“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” he said.

The President has been asked by his political party to run for vice president and choose his running mate in next year’s polls. Duterte, in a latest television interview, resisted calls for a VP bid, saying he looks forward to retirement in Davao City.