ANGELES CITY, Pampanga—Fr. Joaquin Bernas, an expert on constitutional law and a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, said he would rather that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not run for Congress in 2010 as representative of the second district of Pampanga province.

“We never thought the President would be humble. If I were her, I would not seek a lower office,” Bernas said, when the issue of Ms Arroyo’s purported plan to run for Congress came up in a forum of the Council of the Laity of the Archdiocese of San Fernando here on Saturday.

Bernas, dean emeritus of the Ateneo College of Law and a Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, said there were no legal obstacles to stop Ms Arroyo, who had previously served as vice president and a senator, should she decide to run for representative.

“Now, delicadeza ibang bagay yan (propriety is another matter),” Bernas told reporters.

Addressing an audience of 1,000, Bernas was asked why the Constitution was explicitly against the reelection of a president yet silent on prohibiting a president from serving in lower positions.

“We cannot have everything in the Constitution. There were more important provisions,” he said.

The question on everyone’s mind was finally asked: What if Ms Arroyo’s allies succeed in changing the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, and what if Ms Arroyo runs for Congress and wins, could she be elected prime minister?

Bernas’s reply: “The prime minister is chosen by the [members of] parliament, not by the direct vote of the people.”

That is why, he said, it was important for the voters to elect the right leaders.

Someone asked if it was possible for President Arroyo to remain in office longer.

Bernas said that he did not think so. “I have a feeling it will not happen … but I have no assurance of this.”

He pointed out that martial rule under the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos could not have happened without the cooperation of the military.

Of Ms Arroyo’s 15 visits to Pampanga since Feb. 24, 13 were to the second district towns of Guagua, Sasmuan, Lubao, Sta. Rita, Porac and Floridablanca.

It was the increasing regularity of the visits and the scale of the accompanying service caravans that fueled suspicions that she would run for Congress.

If Ms Arroyo were to declare her candidacy in November, sociologist and Inquirer columnist Randy David said he would run against her in Pampanga’s second district.

Like the Macapagals, the David clan is true-blue Pampangueño. David could inject the kind of nontraditional political heat that Fr. Ed Panlilio generated in 2007 – unite the opposition and most of the cause-oriented groups.