‘Never say never’

There was nothing unexpected in Vice President Sara Duterte being officially removed as a member of the National Security Council (NSC). Also removed as regular members of the country’s highest policy-making body on national security matters and concerns such as issues pertaining to our West Philippine Sea (WPS) were the three living past presidents of the country. 

These included VP Sara’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and chief ally, ex-president and now Pampanga Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA). The only other living former president is Joseph Estrada, who has quietly retired from politics. 

The easing out of VP Sara from the NSC came a few weeks after she publicly revealed having contracted someone to carry out assassination on President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) and his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez.

VP Sara later argued her threat was sort of “conditional” – if she dies suspiciously while in office. A lawyer by profession, VP Sara maintains her public declaration cannot be considered as an assassination plot.

Nonetheless, no amount of arguments can erase the fact that the message was delivered. It was just the natural consequence of political decisions and statements that have ramifications, even to the NSC if the VP continues to sit in this body. 

Not being part of the NSC was a fait accompli already for VP Sara herself. 

In an open letter in November last year, VP Sara questioned the NSC for investigating her assassination threat against PBBM. “As a member of the National Security Council (EO 115 Dec. 24, 1986), I do not recall receiving a single notice of meeting since 30 June 2022. I request the NSA to please send to me the notarized minutes of all meetings conducted by the Council from 30 June 2022, if any. I want to review what the council has accomplished so far, in terms of policies and recommendations for national security,” VP Sara demanded.

As far as Malacañang’s own reckoning, the NSC has not once been convened since PBBM took office in June 2022.

Sadly though, PBBM could have taken the opportunity to get the Filipino officialdom solidly behind him had he convened the NSC after the series of Chinese aggressive incidents at the WPS. Chinese Coast Guards, with obvious blessing from their top leaders in Beijing, engaged in dangerous maneuvers against ships of the Philippine Coast Guard and ramming research and sea rescue vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, not even sparing boats of Filipino fishermen in a number of water-cannon, laser-targeting and other physical attacks.

Offhand, we could only speculate why PBBM did not consult with the NSC about our national security concerns on the WPS. Perhaps, PBBM saw some potential risks since the Dutertes and even PGMA are seen as having pro-China bias and influence. Having a Chinese-speaking VP sends very bad signals for the NSC.

But the VP’s exclusion from the NSC was not by the hand of PBBM. After all, it was VP Sara’s own decision to leave the Marcos Cabinet and cut her direct links with the administration’s official family.

Invoking authority “By the President,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed Executive Order (EO) 81 reorganizing the NSC. Malacañang issued EO 81 last Dec. 30 but this was made public only last Friday. This takes effect immediately after EO 81 comes out in the Official Gazette and Malacañang publishes this again in its favorite newspaper of national circulation.

When she resigned as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) on July 19 last year, she also stepped  down as co-vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). With PBBM as chairman of NTF-ELCAC, National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año, who supervises the NSC, is the VP’s co-vice chairman. 

Año is one of the remaining former Duterte Cabinet officials whom PBBM recruited to serve his administration. A number of them have been replaced after VP Duterte severed her ties even from the UniTeam that PBBM and she ran and won together in the May 2022 presidential elections.

Bersamin explained EO 81 merely intended to “reorganize” and “streamline” the membership of the NSC. “At the moment, the VP is not considered relevant to the responsibilities of membership in the NSC,” Bersamin pointed out. “Nonetheless, when the need arises, the EO reserves to the President the power to add members or advisers.”

Among other things, EO 81 cited “the need to further guarantee that the NSC remains a resilient national security institution, capable of adapting to evolving challenges and opportunities both domestically and internationally.” In reorganizing the NSC, EO 81 further invoked the need “to ensure that its council members uphold and protect national security and sovereignty, thereby fostering an environment conducive to effective governance and stability.”

 Nonetheless, the original NSC composition is basically kept intact in the reorganized set-up. It is composed of the President as chairperson and 25 officials from various offices of the Executive and Legislative branches of government as members. As reorganized, the NSC is still composed of the following: President as chairperson, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other key leaders of relevant committees from both chambers of Congress.

Under EO 81, the director-general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), top military and police officials, the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and even the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also attend the meetings of the Council, as may be necessary, to advise and assist in NSC deliberations.

Aside from the Executive Secretary and the NSA, key secretaries of relevant departments, including the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, the head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, the secretary of the Presidential Communications Office and “such other government officials and private citizens as the President may appoint or designate from time to time” may sit as members of the NSC.

As PBBM himself quipped after VP Sara shut the door in his face on reconciliation: “Never say never.”