Robin Padilla seeks expanded terms for president, vice president

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Robinhood Padilla has proposed amending the 1987 Constitution and allowing the president and vice president to serve for four years and two terms.

Under his Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 5, the president and vice president would be elected “joint candidates,” the Senate would grow to 54 members, with 24 of them serving for eight years, and the House of Representatives lawmakers would serve for four years.

Padilla filed RBH No. 5 on Wednesday, December 13.

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It is “imperative to strike a balance between the need for policy continuity, which requires adequate time for lawmakers to fulfill their legislative agenda, and the need to prevent the accumulation of power, which may lead to political entrenchment,” the rookie legislator, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, said in the resolution.

“It is important to provide an allowable extension of service, thus providing elected officials with a more substantial opportunity to effect long-term [and] meaningful changes in their respective offices,” he added.

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Some of the specific proposals in RBH No. 5 are:

• Sec. 2 of Article VI: The Senate shall have 54 members. Of these, 24 are elected at large, and 30 are elected by qualified voters from each legislative region.
• Sec. 4 of Article VI: Senators elected at large shall have terms of eight years but shall not serve for more than two consecutive terms; senators elected by region shall have terms of four years but shall not serve for more than three consecutive terms.
• Sec. 7 of Article VI: Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of four years and shall not serve more than three consecutive terms.
• Sec. 4 of Article VII: The President and Vice President shall be elected as joint candidates by direct vote of the people for a term of four years. They shall not be elected for more than two terms. A President who served for two terms shall not be qualified to run for any elective position. Any person who has succeeded the President or Vice President shall only be qualified for one election to the same office at any time.
• Sec. 8 of Article X: The term of office of elective local officials, except barangay officials, shall be four years. They shall serve no more than three consecutive terms.

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In a statement Thursday, Padilla explained that the change he is seeking in the term of office of the President and the Vice President would ensure what he called a “balance in leadership stability and democratic continuity.”

“A joint candidacy for the President and Vice President provides for an electoral landscape that will shift its emphasis from individual personalities to the unified policy agenda and will foster a more strategic and effective governance,” he also said.

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Padilla’s resolution notes that the introductory elections of all officials under the proposed amendments shall be held on the second Monday of May 2028.

Based on RBH No. 5, the two chambers of Congress – Senate and House of Representatives – should resolve the proposed amendments through a constitutional assembly,  or by a vote of three-fourths of congressional members, with each chamber voting separately.

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