QUEZON City, Philippines (December 8) – Without a doubt, the position of the President of the Republic of the Philippines makes one think of that famous Spiderman quote: “with great power comes great responsibility”. So, one wonders, why is everyone trying to win this position? How confident are they to believe that they have what it takes to run the counrty? I hope that they simply don’t want the power for power’s sake but seriously have a plan to make the country better.
But whatever reasons they have and whatever plans they build in their minds, all will be worthless if they aren’t qualified to be the next President of the Philippines.
All the drama, the twists and turns, the ups and downs of the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election make it seems like there is a nationwide reality TV show, wherein the country is searching for the next President. Let’s just simply see it that way. In every contest, contestants are told to undergo the audition in order to know if that certain contestant is qualified to join the contest; if not, then that contestant will be leaving the competition even before it started.
If a simple sing and dance competition has its own qualifications, how much more the electoral contest for the highest position in the country, right? So what makes a person qualified to be the next president of the Philippines? Is being good-looking enough? Is being rich enough? Is being compassionate to the people enough? If it is that easy to be qualified for presidency, then probably many of us are overly qualified and we are all competing for that one position.
Aside from being compassionate to the people which is the people’s requirement, the qualifications to be meet is written in the Article VII, Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and stated in the Omnibus Election Code Article XI, Section 63. According to the Constitution, an individual may become President provided he meets the following criteria: 1. Natural born Filipino; 2. a registered voter; 3. Must be able to read and write; 4. 40 years of age at the day of the election; and 5. Must have resided in the Philippines ten years before the election is held.
The requirements are given and the public has all the access and the right to know whether he/she is qualified to be the next President. But why is that there are still people who tries hard and waste their own time, the time of their supporters and the time of the government even if they already know that they didn’t meet the qualifications needed. If this is their tactic to gain popularity and publicity then it is effective because they are already the talk of the town, unfortunately, not in a good way though.
Are you a natural born Filipino? A registered voter that knows how to read and write? Are you 40 years of age? And lastly are you residing in the Philippines for more than ten years now? If you answer yes, on all the five question then you already meet the qualifications to be the next President. But even if you meet all those requirements you still can’t be the next President. Why? Because the filing of Certificate of Candidacy is already over. Teehee! Better luck next election!
SOURCES:
(written by Amabelle Lopez, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)
