By Charmaine P. Lirio
THE LATEST public opinion poll of PulseAsia Research yields a split opinion among Filipinos on the question of whether or not President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III should stay in office or resign, on account of the Mamasapano incident.
A slim 42 percent majority disagrees with calls for Aquino to step down, 29 percent agrees, and a significant 29 percent remains undecided.
Controversies have often sparked similar calls for presidents before Aquino to quit their post but the Philippines has had no experience of an incumbent chief executive voluntarily stepping down, or at least not before people power episodes unfold.
Aquino is the nation’s 15th president. Already, however, the country has witnessed five presidential vacancies – three triggered by death and two others by people power revolts.
FORMER PRESIDENT Manuel Quezon, seated, second from right, with his family | Photo from Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page
In the first three cases, the vice presidents succeeded and served the unexpired terms of the presidents who died while in office. This happened during the terms of presidents Manuel Quezon, Manuel Roxas, and Ramon Magsaysay. Their vice presidents, Sergio Osmeña, Elpidio Quirino, and Carlos Garcia, respectively, succeeded them in office.
FORMER PRESIDENT Manuel Roxas | Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page
FORMER PRESIDENT Ramon Magsaysay, first from right, consults jeepney drivers in Malacanang | Photo from Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page
People power revolts, meanwhile, snatched power away from Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada. Marcos’s ouster necessitated the establishment of a provisional constitution and a “revolutionary government” which accorded the president both executive and legislative powers.
FORMER Presidents Ferdinand E. Marcos, second from left, top photo, and Joseph E. Estrada share the same fate. Both were ousted by revolts | Estrada photo taken from Joseph Estrada: The Millennium President by Adrian E. Cristobal | All photos from Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page
Corazon C. Aquino came to power as the rightful winner of the snap presidential elections that Marcos called in February 1986.
FORMER PRESIDENT Corazon C. Aquino on the campaign trail during the 1986 snap polls | Photo from Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page
Estrada’s term, on the other hand, was continued by his vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He would later claim that he only left his position temporarily but the Supreme Court upheld Arroyo’s ascent to the presidency, adding that Estrada resigned when he left Malacañang and released his statement acknowledging Arroyo’s oath-taking as his successor.
FORMER PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo | Photo from Presidential Museum and Library PH Flickr page | Photo taken by Marcelino Pascua | OPS-NIB
The 1987 Constitution provides that in case of resignation or removal from office of the president, the vice president shall serve his or her unexpired term. Thus, should President Aquino relinquish his post, before his term ends on June 30, 2016, his constitutional successor should be Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, who is himself facing controversies, too.
According to the Constitution, if there are no president and vice president on account of “death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both”, the Senate president or, in case of his/her inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall be acting president until one is elected and qualifies to the position.
President Benigno S. Aquino III offers prayers to the remains of slain Marine Corporal Josen Mias and Sergeant Francis Jeffel Flores during the wake visit at the Fort Bonifacio Naval Station Mortuary in Taguig City on Monday afternoon (March 16, 2015). President Aquino recognized the heroism of the two marines killed in encounters with Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao. (Photo by Benhur Arcayan / Malacañang Photo Bureau)
Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. currently lead the legislature. Both are members of the president’s political party, the Liberal Party.
In this instance, the Senate president or the House Speaker “need not possess the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution for a President.
And in case of death, permanent disability, or inability of the Senate president or the Speaker, “the Congress is mandated by law to provide for the one who will act as President and the manner he shall be selected until a President or a Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.” - PCIJ, March 2015