Can Sara Duterte reinvent herself?
Francisco Tatad
UNDER the Constitution, the vice president has no well-defined duties except to succeed the president should a presidential vacancy ever arise. Vice President Sara Duterte has just resigned her Cabinet post and has all the time in the world to sit around waiting to succeed President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (BBM). However, given BBM's state of health, there seems no chance of this happening before 2028. She faces the prospect of doing nothing significant, so some people close to her are wishing she would reinvent herself.
The old Liberal Party (LP), which ran the biggest losing candidate against BBM in 2022, was quick to reject the suggestion that Sara become the new opposition leader. Although now marginalized, the LP wants to anoint one of its own as opposition chief. That should not affect Sara's position as vice president, nor the desire of other parties to choose their own opposition head. But whether or not Sara ends as opposition head, the question is, can she possibly reinvent herself?
She is a lawyer by training — and this is a resource she cannot afford to waste. She can and must put it to good use. There are many issues looking for a suitable advocate; the Constitution, for one, needs to be saved from routine abuse and misuse. These are some of the issues she could consider getting involved in:
1. The constitutional renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. This is contained in Section 2, Article II, which provides: "The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation and amity with all nations."
2. The constitutional mandate of an independent foreign policy. This is contained in Sec. 7, Article II, which provides: "The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other states, the paramount considerations shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination."
3. The declaration that the Philippines is a nuclear weapon-free state. This is contained in Sec. 8. Article II, which provides: "The Philippines, consistent with national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory." And in the Southeast Asian treaty creating a Southeast Asian nuclear weapon-free zone.
4. The constitutional ban on foreign bases, troops and facilities in the Philippines. This is contained in Sec. 25, Article XVIII, which provides: "After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America concerning Military Bases, foreign military bases, troops or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State."
Discussion
How is the State implementing these constitutional provisions? What is it doing to consecrate these provisions into actual practice? The evidence seems to suggest they are being implemented in the opposite direction. Thus, although we are not at war with any nation, we have become part of the US war preparations against China. The absolute constitutional prohibition of foreign bases, troops or facilities in the Philippines after the closure of Clark Air Force Base and Subic Naval Base in 1991 has been honored in the breach through the establishment of nine EDCA bases on Philippine soil.
EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) is an "executive agreement" signed between Philippine defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US ambassador Philip Goldberg in 2014, in naked violation of the above-quoted Sec. 25, Article XVIII of the 1987 Constitution.
It is a burden the US has imposed on the Philippine government without any political embarrassment or unease even on the part of its usually "politically correct" officials.
In violation of the Philippines' nuclear weapon-free status, including its membership in the Southeast Asia nuclear weapon-free zone, the US has sent nuclear-powered ships, submarines and aircraft on missions to the Philippines and deployed medium-range missiles and missile launchers inside the EDCA sites.
This effectively cancels the nation's status as a nuclear weapon-free state, with all its dire consequences. This follows the loss of its "independent" foreign policy, when what began as "a friend to all and an enemy to none" became a completely docile lackey of the Pentagon. The above list of sensitive constitutional issues offers Sara Duterte a rich opportunity to challenge Marcos, but only if she is ready to reinvent herself. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for Marcos, she does not seem prepared to reinvent herself and go with a bang against Marcos.