Proviqj.

ng fot succsssion if
our officlals get wiPed out
TWO bills have been filed in the senate and in the House of Representatives designating
I ;;**;;rs io the presidency in case of death of th9 president. The Constitution now
pioViO". tXutin .ur. oi death, permanent disability, or other circumstances, the president is
io Ue sucieeded by'the vice piesident. In caip of further emergency, the Senate president
is- to succeed the VP, and nnatty, if stilt necessary, bV the House speaker' :
'how
- . .;
ih;-phitippine Constitution names the three next highest officials to.9.u99eed the.
'case
president.in of emergeqgy. It stgpl gt thr99, for the framgrs. of the Constitution must
have it thought it extremel-y dniitery that the na6on would suddenly lose all of its four high.
est officials
-.i"n. pinfilo Lacson, who filed Senate bill-982, said it seeks to provide additional officials
in the tine of su..ession - just in case the officials designated in the Constitution are also
r"ror"O ty death, permanent disability, removal frorn office, or resignation, The bill would
add to the iine the'following: the most senior senator, the most senior representative, and a
ia'Oinet member named by-the president. Rep. Precious Hipolito Castel6 of Quezon City has
fiied a similar bill In the House.
Td Giigd itut"r Constitution provides that in an emergency, tfre next in the line of suc-
cession is the vice president who is also Senate president, then the speaker of the House,
G;ihe Senate prbsident protempore, then the eligible heads of executive departments
led by the seeretary of state.
fhe idea that a n'ation could suddenly lose all itlhiglcstsofficials at one stroke came up in
*Debt no19,riin which the hero was
a best-selling American novel in 1994, Tom Clancy's 9t
a national se?urity adviser narned vice president after the elected VP was forced to resign.in
a sex scanda!. The new VP was in an underground tunnel on his way to Congress, when the
nation's hiqhest officials, meeting at a joint session of Congress, were wiped out in a suicide
.'plane crasft on th6 session hall. that elevated the hero, Jack Ryan, !oJl,t" US presidency.
Since the attack on Sept. !!,200!, in which the two World Trade Ceinter Towers in Nqv
york City were destroyed by men using hijacked airliners, the US has been concerned with
terrorist attack.
There is, howevet no simitar situation in the Philippines that would warrant our worryilg
over the sudden elimination of all our top officials. We have lived for many years norru with
the 1987 Constitution and its provision forthree.successors incase of the unexpected de-
rnise or other incapacity of the president.
But now two of our legislatori see the need for Serrate bill 982 and House bill4062. Laws
are enacted'because there is need for them. The nation would value knowing the need for
these bills at this time; most especially the ones in the present line of succession who might
want to take some needed precautions. : pagc Q