MANILA (UCAN): Bishop Broderick Pabillo, former apostolic administrator of Manila, the Philippines, and the new apostolic vicar of the Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay, Palawan, urged Catholics to be more discerning of politicians who turn public office into a “family business,” referring to speculation that Sarah, the daughter of the president, Rodrigo Duterte, will run for president.
Bishop Pabillo’s remarks came after Duterte admitted on national television that he was considering running for vice-president once his single, six-year term is over [Sunday Examiner, July 11] to dodge prosecution for any wrongdoing.
“What we can do as voters is to be discerning. When we know that candidates are relatives, a son, daughter, spouse of the incumbent, let’s not vote for them,” Bishop Pabillo told Radio Veritas on July 18.
“How can politicians be held accountable when their successors are related to them? It is important to have accountability so that there will be no abuse of authority. Also, they protect the same interests together with the same cronies. This cannot result in change,” he said.
Duterte also told reporters on July 17, “According to the law, if you are president or vice president, you have [executive] immunity. So, I will run as vice president,” referring to a law that says a president may not be prosecuted during their tenure so as not to degrade the dignity of their office.
However, Mel Sta. Maria, a prominent lawyer and a professor at Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, said in a Facebook post on July 18, that Duterte’s plan would not put him beyond the reach of law as only the president enjoys executive immunity.
‘You are so wrong there, Mr. President … The constitution and our jurisprudence do not provide that the vice president is immune … Your interpretation is highly erroneous’
Mel Sta. Maria
“You are so wrong there, Mr. President … The constitution and our jurisprudence do not provide that the vice president is immune … Your interpretation is highly erroneous,” Sta. Maria wrote.
Sta. Maria, who is also dean of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law and a staunch Duterte critic, pointed to the fact that his own vice president, Leni Robredo, has had criminal charges laid against her.
Sedition charges were levelled against Robredo in 2019 in connection with videos that circulated online linking the Duterte family with the drug trade. She was later cleared by the Department of Justice.
“If cases can be filed against Vice President Robredo, why would you be immune if you are vice president?” Sta. Maria asked.
He also cast doubt over whether a president could run for vice president because of the “principle of succession.”
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Sta. Maria pointed out that running for vice president is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.
“The spirit of the Constitution leads to no other conclusion but that when an incumbent President’s term is over, he or she should not be allowed to have any institutional influence at the highest level of government in the next administration,” he wrote.
Sta. Maria pointed out that what Duterte was contemplating would create an opportunity for the previous president to either cause instability within the government or “make the next president nothing but a stooge.”
