DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte’s term will end on 2022 and is not eligible to run, both in the current unitary setup and in a federal government, said the members of Consultative Committee (Concom) in a media forum on Federalism on Wednesday.
This was to address the accusation that President Duterte wanted to stay in power as he aimed to shift the government into federal.
Atty. Antonio Arellano, Commissioner of Consultative Committee, said that the new constitution does not provide for dictatorial power of the President.
As cited on the Article 22, Section 1 of the Concom’s Transitory Provisions, “the term of the President and the Vice President, which shall end on June 30, 2022, shall not be extended.”
Followed by Section 2 which said, “the incumbent President is prohibited from running as President in the 2022 elections under the Constitution.”
Arellano explained the Section 3 stating that even before 2022, once the new constitution takes effect, the term of the president will end.
“Within 6 months there will be an election of a transitory President and Vice President upon the assumption of the office of transitory commission thenhis term ends,” he said.
“These provisions are upon the personal request of President Duterte himself as he do not want to be misunderstood,” he added.
Arellano compared the Federal system of government to the 1987 constitution as the executive branch under it is only composed of one person which is the President of the country.
“Here in the new constitution, we even distributed executive power not only in one President but also distributed to 18 regional governors who are Chief Executive in their perspective regions,” Arellano explained.
The Consultative Committee tasked to review the 1987 Constitution has already approved the draft of the proposed federal constitution last July 3.
The committee, headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno has already submitted to Duterte the proposed draft last July 9, Monday in Malacañang.
The proposal is the output of the 22-member committee headed by Puno tasked to study and make revisions to the 1987 Constitution.
Malacañang will study the draft before its submission to Congress for approval.(davaotoday.com)
