Veloso: Transitory provision skipping Leni came from PDP-Laban draft federal charter

The transitory provision in a House committee's draft federal charter that skips over Vice President Leni Robredo in the line of succession to the presidency was based on the proposal from President Rodrigo Duterte's PDP-Laban party.

Committee on Constitutional Amendments chair Vicente Veloso made the admission on Tuesday as he clarified the controversial provisions in the draft federal charter authored by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other lawmakers.

In a press conference, Veloso said his committee considered three previous draft federal charters in coming up with its own proposal.

These include the draft of the PDP-Laban Federalism Institute; the proposal of Pampanga Representative Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales and ABS party-list Representative Eugene Michael De Vera; and, most recently, the draft of the presidential Consultative Committee (Con-com) tasked to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

"[It's from] PDP-Laban," Veloso said when asked which proposal the succession provision came from.

Article XVII, Section 4 of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments' draft federal charter states that upon its ratification, the incumbent President and Vice President will continue to exercise their powers and functions until the election of their successors, which will be held on the second Monday of May 2022.

"In case a vacancy arises by reason of removal, resignation, permanent incapacity or death of the incumbent President, the incumbent Senate President shall as act as President until a President shall have been chosen and qualified," the section added.

Veloso said Monday that the decision to have the incumbent Senate President to assume Duterte's position is mainly due to the ongoing electoral protest of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos against Robredo.

"[W]e have an unusual situation na ang VP natin e di mo matukoy talaga kung sino," he claimed, saying that recount results and motions for reconsideration might swing the vice presidency from one person to the other.

"Because of this problem, since [sa] batas natin ang next sa line ng succession to the President ay Vice President at after the VP ang Senate President, may nag-propose na idiretso na lang sa Senate president para walang instability tayo in the occupancy sa napakaimportanteng position ng presidente," Veloso said in a phone interview with reporters on Monday.

"Tsaka it is not an only ongoing protest the dispute involves a very slim margin. Yun lang naman ang punto ng proponent," he added.

The Robredo camp has decried the panel's reasoning as "political calisthenics," with the Vice President's lead counsel Romulo Macalintal saying that bypassing her as the President's successor is illegal.

Veloso also said that the provision is an "interim" one, with the transition period only three years at the most, since the next presidential elections will be held in 2022.

"This is an interim provision. From the time of ratification up to the election in May 2022, what do we do?" he said.

Veloso said they are targeting to have his committee's draft federal charter ratified in a plebiscite in May 2019. — BM, GMA News