ASEANEWS HEADLINE-COURTS & CRIME | MANILA, Philippines: Lacson: Military-backed ‘reset’ unconstitutional
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Lacson says retired military officials pushing for civil-military junta: ‘Dine-dedma ko’
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has thumbed down rather wild suggestions of a civil-military junta to supposedly reset the government amid public outrage over the anomalous flood control projects.
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MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson yesterday rejected proposals circulating in the wake of the flood control corruption scandal, including a transition council and a purported military-backed “reset,” calling these unconstitutional even as he was reportedly offered a position in a junta being proposed by retired generals.
While he urged the public to sustain outrage over anomalous flood control projects, Lacson warned that anger must not lead to unconstitutional attempts to change the government’s leadership, saying those pushing such ideas should “dream on.”
“I hope such military-backed intervention would not happen because nothing good can come out of it,” Lacson said in an interview on radio dzBB.
“There are so many people with active imaginations. During times of crisis like this, we cannot blame them for thinking up extra-legal and unconstitutional ways, perhaps in their passion to change the system because they saw how systemic corruption has become,” he added.
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Lacson stressed that leadership changes outside constitutional succession are unacceptable.
He said under the 1987 Constitution, the line of succession ends with the House Speaker — the rationale behind his proposal to establish a “Designated Survivor” mechanism that would extend the line to the most senior members of the Senate and the House.
Lacson also cited the position of the Catholic Church, saying church leaders similarly oppose violent solutions.
He said he recently met with Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David.
“We had a positive talk because it sought the good of the country and not violence. I am glad that the Catholic Church is also after punishing the corrupt but not favoring violence. After all, what good will violence do for the nation?” he said.
Lacson pointed to what he described as “positive steps,” including recent arrest warrants issued against resigned congressman Zaldy Co and others linked to anomalous flood control projects.
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He added that both the Senate majority and minority are aligned in pushing reforms to ensure a transparent 2026 national budget, following controversies involving budgets from 2023 to 2025.
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As chair of the Blue Ribbon committee, Lacson said the panel will support ongoing investigations by providing the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman evidence gathered during the inquiry.
Reacting to Lacson’s statements, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro agreed that a military junta would violate the Constitution.
“We welcome Senator Lacson’s straightforward and unambiguous reaction on that issue, given that the move to change the leadership through a military-backed reset violates our Constitution,” she said.
Castro added that the people behind this “transition council” only have one goal – to remove Marcos “not for the country, not for the Filipinos, but for their own vested interests.”
VP Sara ready to succeed?
Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte refused to answer the media when asked if she is ready to assume the presidency in case President Marcos vacates the position.
“I will not answer that right now because we will have chaos,” she told News5, even as calls mount for Marcos to resign, including from the Duterte camp.
In terms of succession, the vice president is the next in line to the position of president.
During the past months, President Marcos had been criticized for the slow progress of the flood control corruption probe.
During the Iglesia ni Cristo rally earlier this month, the President’s elder sister Sen. Imee Marcos publicly claimed that her brother and his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos are drug addicts.
Duterte said the President should submit himself to a drug test since there were rumors that some of those they partied with were users of illegal drugs.
“Even during events held in different parts of the world, I have always said that if you are the president, vice president or government official, you cannot say no when challenged to undergo a drug test, neuropsychiatric exam or other exams that are related to their competency,” she said.
Turning the tables on Duterte, Castro said it was her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte who admitted to using marijuana and abusing fentanyl while he was president because of the “cloud nine feeling.”
“Did he order her father to undergo a drug test? Did she forget what the spokesperson then said that the president cannot be ordered to take a drug test?” Castro asked.
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She said the President is working and fighting corruption unlike others who have shown signs of “uncontrollable anger issues.”
“That’s the one who acts like a person under the influence of illegal drugs,” Castro stressed. — Evelyn Macairan, Helen Flores
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