(1^st UPDATE) Under EO 81, two Dutertes are no longer members of the NSC – Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte

The EO, issued on December 30 but made public only on Friday, January 3, said “there is a 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.”

The EO added that it was important to “ensure that its council members uphold and protect national security and sovereignty, thereby fostering an environment conducive to effective governance and stability.”

In the context of the current Marcos administration, this means that both Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, are no longer members of the NSC.

Two other former Philippine presidents are still living — Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, under whose term the NSC was last restructured. Arroyo is a staunch ally of the Dutertes.

Responding to media inquiries on the restructuring of the NSC, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said, “At the moment, the VP is not considered relevant to the responsibilities of membership in the NSC.”

“Nonetheless, when the need arises, the EO reserves to the President the power to add members or advisers,” he added.

Aside from omitting the Vice President and past presidents as members of the council, EO 81 also states that three deputy speakers to be designated by the Speaker will be members of the NSC, as opposed to “Deputy Speakers for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao” under the last reorganization of the council in 2001, during the Arroyo administration

In both EO 81-2024 and 34-2001, heads of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation are to attend NSC meetings to “advise and assist in its deliberations.” The new EO adds that the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may be invited to be part of NSC meetings.

The Vice President is also no longer part of the NSC’s Executive Committee, according to EO 81. It is now composed of the following:

1. President as Chairperson

2. Executive Secretary

3. Senate President or his representative

4. Speaker of the House of Representatives or his representative

5. National Security Adviser

6. Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs

7. Secretary, Department of Justice

8. Secretary, Department of National Defense

9. Secretary, Department of the Interior and Local Government

10. Such other members or advisers as the President may designate from time to time

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a statement that EO 81 “is necessary to further enhance the formulation of policies affecting national security.”

“The NSC is, first and foremost, an advisory body to the President, and its composition is always subject to the authority of President. Hence, the purpose of reorganization is to enhance the formulation of policies relating to national security so that actions and decisions thereon by the Presidents rests on sound advice and accurate information. It is also premised on the need for timely and coherent action to address current and emerging threats to national security,” he added.

Duterte was once a member of the Marcos Cabinet as the education secretary. She was also co-vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which is co-chaired by the National Security Adviser.

In June, the Vice President resigned from her appointive posts and broke away from the once-vaunted Marcos-Duterte alliance.

The relationship between the two highest-elect posts in the land reached an all-time low when Duterte, amid scrutiny from a Marcos-allied Congress, implied she had contacted someone to kill the President, the First Lady, and his cousin House Speaker should she die.

In response, Justice Department officials launched a probe into the Vice President’s statements and outlined her possible legal liabilities.

On November 25, or two days after her controversial online press briefing where she made the threat against the First Couple and Romualdez, Duterte wrote an open letter to National Security Adviser Eduardo Año demanding an explanation on why she had never been invited to an NSC meeting. At the time she raised the question, however, the Marcos administration had yet to hold a full NSC meeting.

Marcos met with the NSC on February 7, 2023, to discuss its priority programs. It was not a full NSC meeting. Aside from Año, the only ones in attendance were NSC deputy director generals Benjamin Madrigal Jr. and Nestor Herico; Marlo Guloy, as well as NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Ernesto Torres Jr.; and key Palace officials.

Days after her daughter’s online meltdown in November and the Marcos administration’s response to it, former president Duterte called for military and police intervention to “protect the Constitution” amid what he described as a “fractured” government, but stopped just short of explicitly advocating for a coup d’état. – Rappler.com

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