If incumbent senator wins as president, VP, will 13th place fill the vacancy?

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-four senators make up the Philippine Senate.

Under the 1987 Constitution, a member of the Senate serves a term of six years. To prevent it from getting completely dissolved, 12 senators are elected every three years.

This way, half of the seats are retained, while the remaining half are occupied by new or re-elected senators.

According to the Senate website, “[t]he purpose of the continuity of the life of the Senate is intended to encourage the maintenance of Senate policies as well as guarantee that there will be experienced members who can help and train newcomers in the discharge of their duties.”

Members of the Senate are allowed two consecutive terms.

Will 13th place snag a seat?

Two candidates running for president — Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago — and five vice presidential bets — Alan Peter Cayetano, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Antonio Trillanes IV, Francis Escudero, and Gregorio Honasan II — are current members of the Senate.

Of the seven, however, only Poe, Escudero, Cayetano, Trillanes, and Honasan will keep their posts if they failed to get elected as they started their terms during the 2013 elections.

Santiago and Marcos both won Senate seats during the 2010 elections.

If a senator whose term won’t expire yet gets elected for another position, the vacancy can be filled through special elections and the person who wins “shall serve only for the unexpired term,” Article 6 Section 9 of the Constitution states.

Republic Act 6645, which prescribes the manner of filing a vacancy in Congress, says that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) can only hold special elections once it receives a resolution of the Senate or the House of Representatives that certifies the existence of the vacancy and calls for a special election.

On its own, the Comelec cannot proclaim the 13th senator to take the vacant position.

Meanwhile, Republic Act 7166 states that “in case a permanent vacancy shall occur in the Senate or House of Representatives at least one year before the expiration of the term, the Commission shall call and hold a special election to fill the vacancy not earlier than 60 days nor longer than 90 days after the occurrence of the vacancy.”

It adds that “in case of such vacancy in the Senate, the special election shall be held simultaneously with the succeeding regular election,” which can mean the coming barangay polls in October this year.

Previous cases

Since none of those who won in 2013 resigned, the Senate cannot file for a resolution on the existence of a vacancy and call for special elections.

In 2010, only 12 senators were proclaimed even as then Sen. Benigno Aquino III vacated his seat after winning the presidency. Aquino’s term in Senate was supposed to end in 2013.

Honasan, however, was able to clinch a seat in Senate as the 13th senator in 2001 when then President Gloria Arroyo appointed then Sen. Teofisto Guingona Jr. as her vice president after EDSA II. 

As the appointment came prior to the start of the campaign period that year, the Senate was able to pass a resolution certifying the vacancy and asked the Comelec to hold a special election. 

It said that the 13th placer will serve the remainder of Guingona's term. Honasan served for three years until 2004.