My recit day in Constitutional Law Class didn’t go well. I mixed up section 11 and section 12 of Article 7 (The Executive Department) of the 1987 Constitution. Our professor asked what would happen if the President couldn’t perform his duties. I mistook the question and thought she asked what would happen if the President was seriously ill. But I held firm with what I said, and said it confidently that in the end, even though wrong, until the professor said I could sit down.
There’s a trick in law school that my seniors once advised us: even if you know you’re wrong, recite your answer confidently anyway. The professor already knows you already made the mistake; by the time she spots it, her objective will have changed too. She will no longer look for the right answer. She will instead be checking your confidence and coherence in answering. As long as I answered confidently and coherently, I wouldn’t end up standing until the end of our almost-two-hour class.
Even worse luck for that one classmate of ours who couldn’t string his thoughts together. She locked in on her for half an hour. It made us all nervous that she’d eventually request everyone to get a piece of paper and hold a pop quiz. But she didn’t do it. She kept on asking him. He almost gave up but at the last moment he was able to state his answer coherently enough to satisfy her. He failed the recitation too. But at least the session was concluded.
That night I was exhausted but I couldn’t sleep. I needed to check and recheck my notes until I got right the answers she asked. None of us have the time to prove ourselves anymore because it is almost the end of the term. We’ll just have to study to get that passing mark and improve in the coming terms.
2 Sections in ARTICLE 7 of the 1987 CONSTITUTION:
SECTION 11. Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.
Whenever a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet transmit to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice-President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall reassume the powers and duties of his office. Meanwhile, should a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet transmit within five days to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Congress shall decide the issue. For that purpose, the Congress shall convene, if it is not in session, within forty-eight hours, in accordance with its rules and without need of call.
If the Congress, within ten days after receipt of the last written declaration, or, if not in session, within twelve days after it is required to assemble, determines by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, voting separately, that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice-President shall act as the President; otherwise, the President shall continue exercising the powers and duties of his office.
SECTION 12. In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The Members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.