No explicit prohibition on a sitting president to run for VP —IBP chief

President Rodrigo Duterte can run for vice president in the May 2022 elections since such a scenario is not expressly prohibited by the 1987 Constitution, the head of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said Friday.

“The Constitution does not explicitly prohibit a president from running for another office after his term as president. What it prohibits is a reelection,” IBP president Domingo Cayosa said.

“[There is] no express legal impediment.”

Former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Joseph Estrada were elected as Pampanga congresswoman and Manila mayor, respectively, after leaving Malacañang.

Cayosa’s statement comes after Duterte announced on Thursday that the public should consider him a candidate for vice president “at this time” amid calls from his party-mates in PDP-Laban to gun for the country’s second highest elective post.

Duterte said that he is considering a vice presidential bid to avoid a lame duck status during his last year in office.

Reacting to Duterte’s latest remarks, Magdalo party-list Representative Manuel Cabochan said running for vice president would “circumvent” the intent of the Constitution to bar reelection to the presidency.

“Should President Duterte run for the vice presidency and win, he is next in line to become president — a post he previously held,” Cabochan said. “The Philippines is not and should not be a Duterte nation.”

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said Duterte would run for vice president if he received a “message from God.” —Virgil Lopez/KBK, GMA News