I am surprised by the article of Dean Amado Valdez of the UE College of Law, stating that President Arroyo must resign, or at least go on terminal leave, if she runs for Congress representing the Second District of Pampanga.

I know the Constitution as much as Dean Valdez does, and we both know there is nothing in it that requires the Chief Executive of the land to resign or go on terminal leave if he/she decides to run for another position and files a certificate of candidacy for that purpose. Of course, I’m not suggesting here that Mrs. Arroyo run for another public office after her term ends in 2010. Mine is purely an academic discussion of what I understand from the provisions of Article 7, Sections 7 and 8 of the Constitution with regard to succession. It is clear that a President, once elected, serves his/her term unless impeached, dies, is permanently disabled or resigns. The filing of a certificate of candidacy for a lower position during his/her term is not one of those taboos enumerated under Section 8 of Article 6 of the Constitution. It is clear from this provision that if the President is removed from office, dies, resigns or is permanently disabled, then the vice president ipso jure (by operation of law; by the law itself) assumes the presidency. If the vice president cannot qualify, then the Senate president becomes president, or in the absence of the Senate president, the speaker of the House shall assume the office of the president.

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WHAT forum? We know you will ask.

We were elated to hear the announcement of the City Government that there was to be a forum on June 23, 2009 in a bid to stem pollution in the Iloilo River.

The Iloilo River has been a subject of our writings and we have dedicated some 10 editions of our column on it, including interactions from readers but to date, we do not see any abatement in the environmental problems of the river.

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THE latest hyperbole from Executive Secretary Ed Ermita – that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might postpone her July 27 State of the Nation Address due to escalating cases of influenza A(H1N1) – is too absurd to believe. The poor virus has become the most virulent cover-up for hidden agenda.

Who benefits from the Department of Health’s daily updates on swine flu or A(H1N1)? Certainly not us Filipinos. What we get is scare that we could be next victim.

So far, the biggest beneficiary of the so-called H1N1 pandemic is Roche, one of the biggest drug companies and sole manufacturer of Tamiflu tablets in the United States. For the year 2009, Roche has already made US $500-million from Tamiflu sales worldwide; or five times more than its 2008 sales. The Philippine government alone has imported 600,000 tablets.

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BACOLOD CITY — Gov. Isidro Zayco is right. The Freddie Marañon – Bebing Zayco team for the 2010 gubernatorial and vice-gobernatorial slate is not final yet.

We can never have a final team until the certificates of candidacy are filed. All speculations.

Although I have the feeling the party leaders of both United Negros Alliance and the Nationalist People’s Coalition have their initial decision. Let us not make the Governor a lame duck.

Gov. Zayco is a very good party man. He will subordinate his personal interest to the interest of the Party. That is why he is very well loved.

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THIS column was supposed to be on the 2009 World Food Summit and the human right to food but … that can wait.

I was stunned when I read on Tuesday the half-page obituary on the sudden passing of De La Salle Brother Ceci Hojilla. It had a big picture of him laughing. Cecilio Montelibano Hojilla served as a De La Salle Brother for 48 years, the obit said. “Br. Ceci left a legacy of being a teacher, a mentor, a storyteller, a photographer, a friend, and a brother to countless young people.” He was 65.

I met Bro. Ceci face to face only once. He invited me to deliver the keynote address at a La Sallian convention at the De La Salle Center in Batulao some years ago. The subject I was to speak about was poverty as I saw it as a journalist. I remember meditating and praying over it for a week and writing till late at night, trying to give it a human face. I was forced to take stock of what it was like inside of me and outside of me.

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BACOLOD CITY — Monday night, we attended the turnover ceremonies of the District Governorship of Rotary International District 3850 from Outgoing District Governor Emma Nava to Incoming District Governor Edgar Sy of the Rotary Club of Bacolod.

Something I observed new was that the joint induction of all officers of 12 Rotary Clubs in Negros Occidental together with the District Governor meant savings for each Club in terms of induction expenses.

I cannot recall that we did this in the past. I have been with Rotary for 35 years. The other thing is the venue which is the newly finished convention center of L’Fisher that can seat a thousand guests. We can now host big conventions.

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Dingle is the first town in Iloilo to erect its own municipal hospital.

Before his first term ends in May next year, Mayor Biloy Palabrica will be inaugurating the 10-bed “Norweigian-American Hospital” that shows how resourcefulness and overseas friends work to overcome financial constraints.

We say “overseas friends” because it is not only expat Dingle-anon but also non-Dingle-anon and non-Filipino members of the medical community in the US who helped realize the medical facility. How Mayor Palabrica established links with them proves, for one, the art of diplomacy that heals.

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PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stirred a hornet’s nest when Cabinet proxies floated the trial balloon that she planned to run for Congress to represent the second district of Pampanga in the 2010 national election.

The revelation not only threw in disarray the newly formed merger of Lakas-CMD and Kampi, the President’s own party, but also prompted former President Fidel Ramos, chair emeritus of the merged parties, to warn her to stop “titillating” the nation and declare her political plans after she steps down in 2010, saying the uncertainty was creating political instability.

In Tokyo after the news broke out, the President clammed up and stonewalled. She said, “I don’t want to talk politics. I don’t want to talk about elections.”

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It is nice to know DAILY STAR is widely read abroad. But it is still nicer that they react and send us e-mail. They participate.

I received three letters through the e-mail from three continents, Africa, Europe, and the U.S. Let us give them this space.

From Rodeo, California our friend Bing Ramos greeted us Sunday, not only Happy Father’s Day but a Happy Grandfather’s Day. Correct! Sunday at dinner at L’Fisher Franklin Fuentebella had a long table with his grandchildren, some of them home from the U.S. And most of the fathers I saw were grandfathers.

There does not seem to be a Grandfather’s Day.

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MY nephew Murphy yesterday asked me, “Tito, how should I know who among my friends are true friends?” I fumbled for an answer and began thinking of famous quotations like “A friend in need is a friend indeed” and “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.”

“Well,” I hesitated, disagreeing in my mind with those two quotes, “I am afraid true friends are hard to find. If somebody relishes your presence only because you are useful to him, he’s not a true friend. Friendship is no diamond that lasts forever. Probably because of gradual change in every person’s outlook and character, your friend today could be your enemy tomorrow, and vice versa.”

I had in mind my best friend in college, now occupying a position of power, who now avoids me as if I were not worth his attention. So what? It’s no valid reason for him to look down on an old friend. Everybody begins and ends in a common journey – from womb to tomb. What’s in between does not count in the end.

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