The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers has asserted that a vice president may still be charged during incumbency.

 

NUPL President Edre Olalia said this on Sunday after President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he may run in the 2022 national elections as vice president to avoid lawsuits.

 

During the PDP-Laban assembly on Saturday, Duterte said: "Sabi ng batas, kung bise presidente ka, may immunity ka. Eh 'di tatakbo na lang ako ng bise presidente."

 

But Olalia, in a statement, stressed: "A Vice President has no immunity from suit. That is rewriting the Constitution, the law and even jurisprudence." 

 

The rights lawyer added that only the president is cloaked with immunity from suit following prevailing jurisprudence.

 

"So the claim is either a freudian slip or betrays the premeditated naughty intentions for now-he-is-not-running-now-he-is-running plans for Vice President," Olalia also said.

 

The NUPL president added: "So either way, he can try to hide but he cannot run." 

 

Duterte is accused of committing crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court, which is set to decide whether or not to launch an investigation into his bloody war on drugs that claimed thousands of lives.