Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo on Saturday blasted President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s decision to remove Vice President Sara Duterte in his revamp of the National Security Council (NSC).
In a statement, Panelo, who also served as Palace spokesperson during the Duterte administration, said that “[t]he removal of VP Sara as member of the National Security Council is an ill advised presidential move.”
Marcos, through Executive Order No. 81, reorganized the NSC —in which he removed the Vice President and past presidents in its composition.
“It smacks of dirty politics. Another brazen measure to diminish the political star power of VP Sara,” Panelo said.
In issuing EO 81, the President said there is a need to further guarantee that NSC remains a resilient national security institution, capable of adapting to evolving challenges and opportunities both here and abroad, and to ensure that NSC members “uphold and protect national security and sovereignty, thereby fostering an environment conducive to effective governance and stability.”
In a brief statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said at the moment, the Vice President is ”not considered relevant to the responsibilities of membership in the NSC.”
Bersamin said the President, however, has the power to add members to the composition of the NSC as needed.
”Nonetheless, when the need arises, the EO reserves to the President the power to add members or advisers,” the executive secretary said.
On the removal of former presidents in the NSC, particularly former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Joseph “Erap” Estrada, Panelo said this move was meant to “deodorize the elimination of VP Sara as member — to make it appear that she is not being targeted.“
To recall, the NSC said it considers all threats to Marcos as serious and a matter of national security after Vice President Sara Duterte made a kill remark against the First Couple and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
Duterte, in return, questioned why as a member of the NSC, she was not invited to the meetings of the council, which National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said is “closely coordinating with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate the nature of the threat, the possible perpetrators, and their motives.”
The Vice President earlier clarified that her remark against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Romualdez was not a threat but only highlighting the supposed threat against her security.
The NSC is the government body formed to advise the President “on matters of national defense and shall make recommendations on such other subjects as the President may from time to time submit for study and consideration.”
When it was formed by then-President Elpidio Quirino on July 1, 1950, with his Executive Order No. 330, the NSC was composed of the following officials:
- President,
- the Vice President,
- the President of the Senate,
- the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
- the Head of each Executive Department,
- the Chairman of the Committee on the Army, Navy, and Military Pensions of the Senate,
- the Chairman of the National Defense Committee of the House of Representatives,
- the Commanding General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and
- the Chairman of the Philippine Veterans Board.
The composition of the NSC has since gone through several changes over the years. —KG, GMA Integrated News
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