Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — While President Rodrigo Duterte can delegate certain powers, it has to be put in writing.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio said this Tuesday night after Duterte said he would give Vice President Leni Robredo his law enforcement power, particularly in the implementation of his administration’s drug war, for six months.
“The President can of course delegate certain powers. But I don’t know how that will be taken by the VP. But it’s a principle in law that the President can delegate his powers because he cannot do all. Under the system of government, executive power is vested in one person, the President,” Carpio said at a testimonial dinner organized by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communications.
However, the retired senior magistrate pointed out that such delegation of power by the President must be put in writing,
“We don’t know the extent of the delegation of authority, who will be the people under the Vice President, what agencies will be under… So, it’s a very broad proposal and it’s very difficult to define what kind of work the person to whom it is delegated will do,” he explained.
Carpio nevertheless said the issue remains mere speculations since it is still uncertain whether Robredo will indeed accept Duterte’s offer.
“It can be a special delegation because the President has many ways of delegating his powers. It’s all speculative because we don’t know whether the Vice President will accept it or not,” Carpio said.
Robredo earlier refused to respond to Duterte’s offer since she does not know if the President is serious.
“I do not want to answer that for now because I do not know how serious that was. But for me, the significant and important problems of our country should not be addressed through antagonism or throwing insults,” Robredo said in Filipino. /kga
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