Precious Hipolito Castelo, Quezon City second district representative, has withdrawn House Bill No. 4062 one year and ten days after she filed it in Congress.
The bill—titled the "Presidential Succession Act" or the "designated survivor bill"—authorizes the President of the Republic "to delegate or designate a successor in the unlikely event that the President, Vice President, Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives die or become incapacitated to fill in the role of the President."
This is modeled after "a similar practice in the United States," Hipolito-Castelo said in a Facebook post today, August 30.
Castelo filed the bill on August 20, 2019. She submitted the letter of withdrawal on August 30, 2020.
In her letter, the Quezon City lawmaker noted that the Committee on Constitutional Amendments has not acted upon the bill since its date of filing.
In a press statement posted on her Facebook account, Castelo explained her decision to withdraw the bill.
The reason, she said, was "to erase any wrong impression that she is for ignoring or scrapping the constitutional line of succession to the presidency."
The representative remarked, "That is not so, far from it. The bill does not remove the line of succession. I am for respecting that provision of the Constitution and the line of succession to the highest office."
According to the 1987 Constitution, in the event that the President dies or is disabled, the Vice-President ascends into office.
If the Vice President is unable to hold office, the Senate President takes over.
If the Senate President cannot fulfill this duty, the House Speaker is fourth in line.
Hipolito-Castelo is currently with the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), a political party formed by Sara Duterte, the mayor of Davao and President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter.
HNP began as a regional political party, but was accredited as a national party by the Commission on Elections in 2018.
Hipolito-Castelo actually started with the Liberal Party, where she stayed from 2010-2017. The Liberal Party, headed by then President Noynoy Aquino, was the dominant party for most of those years.
She switched to PDP-Laban in 2017. The PDP-Laban, the party of President Duterte, became the ruling party in 2016 and remains so to this day. Hipolito-Castelo stayed for a year, until she joined the President's daughter.
Manolo Quezon questions bill's rationale
Manolo Quezon, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, gave his two cents' worth on Castelo's bill.
"The only real question is why it's taken so long and always previously failed," Quezon remarked in a Facebook post uploaded today, August 30, "for a bill of this nature to be deliberated upon in Congress."
He adds, "The Philippine legislatures and presidents invoking emergency powers have done so in the past."
He acknowledges that there is need for legislation that covers a scenario where "the Constitutionally-specified method fails or cannot be made operative."
But, Quezon says, after going through Castelo's explanatory note for the bill, he has to conclude that its rationale is simply "dramatic... obviously derived from movies and TV shows."
Castelo's explanatory note depicted an instance—say, the State of Nation Address—where all constitutional successors come under threat.
Quezon remarks, "The only problem as the explanatory note sadly proves, is legislators rely on TV and dramas for policy suggestions instead of actually doing research on our own history and challenges to government during emergencies."
Netizens lambast Castelo
In Twitter, the reactions to Castelo were harsh, with most of them ridiculing her knowledge of the law.
"YOU ARE A LAWMAKER.. CONSTI is THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND," one Twitter user said.
A registered voter from Quezon City regretted voting for Castelo, calling himself/herself "BOBOtante."
One netizen lamented, "A lawmaker who kas zero knowledge of the law. Waste of taxpayers money."
Who is Precious Hipolito Castelo?
Precious began as a child of showbiz. Her career began at the age of six, when she joined the "Little Miss Philippines" competition of Eat Bulaga!, a noontime variety show.
She was part of the cast of The Life Story of Julie Vega in 1985, her first film. The following year, Castelo won the FAMAS Best Child Actress award for her role in Mga Anghel Ng Diyos.
She became part of That's Entertainment, a smorgasbord of music, dance, skits, ang games on TV, for two years, after which she left showbiz.
Her last film was the Canary Borthers of Tondo in 1992.
Precious studied AB Communication Arts at the University of Santo Tomas, and after graduation became a newscaster for IBC 13 from 2001 to 2009.
In 2010, she ran for councilor in Quezon City, where she was a three-term councilor.
She is married to congressman Winnie Castelo, with whom she has two children, Winona and Paolo.
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