There’s a very easy, painless, legal way to avoid a dangerous power vacuum in case a new President is not proclaimed by June 30 – the same day the tenures of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles all lapse.

This is by electing a new Senate President between May 31 and June 4, 2010 when Congress officially resumes its sessions. If you want to see the Senate calendar, click on this link.

This morning, before I uploaded this entry, I heard University of the Philippines College of Law dean, Marvic Leonen, express the same legal opinion on radio.

I base mine on what I learned while covering the Senate as a beat reporter.

The Constitution specifies that the Senate President should serve as the acting President “until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.”

In the Senate President’s absence or incapacity, the House Speaker takes over. But that would be impossible after June 30 since all congressmen would also be out of office by then.

However, 12 senators would still be in office beyond June 30. In fact, their tenures would only expire in the year 2013. That was how the Constitution designed it in order to avoid a vacuum.

Unfortunately, the incumbent Senate President Enrile is not one of those senators. He will also be out of office by June 30, which is why he is running again.

Let’s examine the 12 senators who will remain beyond June 30 and see how acceptable they might be to their colleagues:

• Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar are both running for President.
• Senator Loren Legarda is Villar’s running mate.
• Senator Alan Cayetano is aligned with Villar.
• Senator Francis Pangilinan is aligned with Aquino.
• Senator Joke Arroyo is aligned with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is suspected of angling to stay on in office.
• Senator Edgardo Angara is also aligned with Pres. Arroyo.
• Senator Miguel Zubiri is also aligned with Pres. Arroyo and suspected of electoral cheating by veteran Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
• Senator Panfilo Lacson has gone missing because of double murder raps.
• Senator Antonio Trillanes is in jail on rebellion charges.
• And who will trust a habitual failed coup plotter like Senator Gregorio Honasan to assume the post of Acting President?

And so that leaves only Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, a man without a political party – the man least likely to power grab for himself. A man who is credible and competent in law.

If you have a better suggestion, I would like to know.

Why fellow senators want Juan Ponce Enrile out of the Senate Presidency and it’s not just because of Villar’s maneuvers

It must be positively galling, delightful and astonishing for Juan Ponce Enrile to find himself once again within sniffing distance of the presidency of the Republic at the age of 86. (He shares the same birthday as Kris Aquino – on Valentines Day).

The first time Enrile was THAT CLOSE was in the twilight of Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship when he, Imelda Marcos and the military chief Fabian Ver were jostling for the top post. (This explains why Enrile made that remark to ex-President Joseph Estrada’s spokeswoman Margaux Salcedo that he had to sit through hours of Imelda’s non-stop prattle during martial law. Enrile described those painful episodes as “moments of intellectual constipation,” Margaux said.

I interviewed him then for Business Day newspaper and he came across as young, virile and dangerously attractive.

But at that time, Enrile was YES MAAM’ing Imelda all over the place despite his being the defense minister and martial law administrator. It was that or off with his head.

The second time Enrile nearly stepped inside the presidential palace was in the early days of Cory Aquino’s presidency when his clone and aide, Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan, kept trying to unseat Aquino.

Now Enrile has a chance again because the 1987 Philippine Constitution puts him directly in the line of succession for the presidency in case anything happens to the president and vice-president.

Here is the pertinent provision:

Section 8. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both the President and Vice-President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.

But the problem is, Enrile’s senatorial term and the tenure of all congressmen end also this June 30, leaving a dangerous gap in political succession in case neither a President-elect nor a Vice-President elect is chosen or qualified by June 30 this year.

The Constitution states that

Where no President and Vice-President shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall act as President until a President or a Vice-President shall have been chosen and qualified.

Because of this, it is very very urgent for the Senate to replace Enrile NOW in the next few days before Congress adjourns basically for good on February 6.

Congress only resumes sessions from May 31 to June 4 to proclaim the winning president and vice-president. If there is no winner, we are in deep sh-t indeed.

So the most cautious and patriotic thing for the Senate to do is to shower Enrile with thunderous praise and ask him to make way now for someone whose term will end in 2012.

Whom do you pick as the next Senate President among these 12 senators who still have a shelf life of three more years?

Loren Legarda
Gregorio Honasan
Francis Escudero
Benigno Aquino III
Alan Cayetano
Panfilo Lacson
Manuel Villar
Edgardo Angara
Joker Arroyo
Francis Pangilinan
Miguel Zubiri
Antonio Trillanes

Let your voices be heard…