Lawmakers filed in both chambers of Congress a bill giving President Rodrigo Duterte the power to designate a successor should all of his Constitutional successors are killed in a gathering.
Two bills filed at the Senate and at the House of President say that the President should delegate a successor from his Cabinet officials ahead of a gathering of high-ranking officials such as the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The chosen successor will be hidden in an undisclosed place and will take over the presidency should the Constitutional successors die all at the same time.
“In order to guarantee that there will always be someone to assume the reins of the government in case an unimaginable disaster happens,” Quezon City Representative Precious Castelo said in a statement.
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“While the strongest and strictest security measures have always been implemented and enforced during SONA, there is always a chance, whoever slim, that a tragedy can happen,” Castelo added.
The bill is currently at the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
“In the unlikely chance that all of these officials become unavailable to fill in the role of the President, our supreme law does not provide a rule. During SONA, or during any other assembly where officials are gathered, the probability of this happening becomes greater.”
Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson also filed the same bill at the Senate.
Under the law the Vice President should be the next in line to be followed by the Senate President and the House Speaker.
Should these individuals will not be available to take over the President’s post, Lacson suggests that it should be the most senior and experienced official from the Senate, Congressman and member of the Cabinet.
