If you look at the oath taking ceremonies of the former presidents and vice presidents in recent history, the vice presidents took their oath before the presidents did.
Former VP Jejomar Binay took his oath a few minutes before former President Benigno Aquino III was sworn into office. The same thing happened with former VP Noli de Castro and former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. When Arroyo was vice-president, she was also sworn into office a few minutes before Estrada was.
[ads1]
The inauguration of the President and Vice President is supposed to take place this way for two reasons:
(1) To follow protocol because no one is supposed to follow the oath taking of the President, who should be sworn into office last due to his or her supremacy;
(2) To ensure the availability of a constitutionally valid successor before the President-elect assumes office.
The meme about Robredo’s oath taking above also mentioned a portion of Article VII, Section 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution that goes:
“The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date, six years thereafter.”
While this is correctly cited in the meme, this was also the same rule in the Constitution that some of the netizens used to accuse Robredo for breaking the law for taking her oath at around 9 a.m. instead of 12 noon.
The accompanying post of the meme says:
“According to the Constitution. The President and the Vice President will be proclaimed exactly at 12noon on the 30th day of June, (Article VII, Section 4 of the Philippine Constitution) but not necessarily together.”
The netizen even added, “Her post is questionable and therefore null and void. In other words, Leni Gerona Vda. Robreado’s oath-taking is illegal. AND THE POST, THEREFORE IS STILL VACANT.”
One of the mistakes in the netizen’s interpretation is the use of the word “proclaimed.” This should be “inaugurated.”
And the Constitution was not referring to the inauguration when it mentioned noon on the 30th of June, but the START OF THE TERM of six years of the President and Vice President. It’s just that it has been established as a TRADITION for a President-elect to take his or her oath of office at 12 noon.
Considering the protocol and constitutional need to ensure a valid successor, as what was mentioned earlier, Robredo had to be sworn in prior to Duterte, who observed the tradition of taking his oath at exactly 12 noon. This is one of the things Duterte decided to follow in the tradition of the presidential inauguration, just like the presidents before him – Aquino, Arroyo, Estrada, and Ramos – who also took their oath at noon on June 30.
It did not matter what time Robredo took her oath as the 14th Vice President of the Philippines, so long as she followed the tradition and protocol of being sworn into office before the President assumed office to secure the constitutional line of succession. She did not break any law in the Constitution, her oath taking is not “illegal,” as they put it, and the vice presidential seat is officially filled.
[ads3]
Be Informed. Beat The Trolls, Share The Truth
