Designated Survivor

By James Jimenez

If you can’t take a joke, or can’t distinguish between a serious statement and a sarcastic one, then you might want to read this article to the very end.

A designated survivor is the pre-selected government official who is excluded from attending significant governmental events where other high-ranking government officials gather. The morbid reason for this ostracism is that, in case something goes wrong at the event and all the government officials in attendance die – particularly the president and those in the line of succession – then at least one government official remains, presumably to take office in order to preserve continuity of government. Think of the designated survivor as being to the entire officialdom of government what the vice-president is to the president; a spare-tire, kept in the trunk.

The term originated during the Cold War, when the chronic conflict between the US and the USSR, spawned very real fears of the nation’s enemies mounting a catastrophic attack that would target the leaders of government, essentially decapitating the nation’s leadership. As far as I can tell, this is a uniquely American phenomenon, as only the US has a designated survivor.

Thus, during major events like the State of the Union (SOTU) Address, where the US President and practically the entire line of succession – Vice-President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and Cabinet Secretaries – are all in one place, one Cabinet Secretary gets a different kind of invitation.

Since an attack on that place, at that time, would wipe out the entire leadership of the country, the lucky – and probably very bummed out – Cabinet member is chosen and taken somewhere secret and safe so in case the unthinkable happens, at least one person remains who can take up the reins of government. Away from the pomp and circumstance of the event for which he is the designated survivor, this Cabinet member waits out the event, hoping that his isolation is soon proven to have been unnecessary.

Not every government official can be designated survivor. In the U.S., where this whole idea originated and is likely endemic, a designated survivor must be eligible to be president, meaning they must be a natural-born US citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

In the Philippines, the designated survivor must be …

Wait. The Philippines doesn’t have a designated survivor. What we have is an online streaming service where you can watch a mini-series called “Designated Survivor,” which floridly dramatizes the whole concept. After an explosion takes out the President and his constitutional successors on the night of the SOTU, the designated survivor is sworn in as president who then has to find and punish the perpetrators of the bombing while struggling to deal with the legitimacy issues hounding him as an unelected president. Cinematically violent action scenes and theatrically dramatic confrontations ensue.

Our response to a vacancy in high office has decidedly less drama. According to the 1987 Constitution, if the Philippine President dies, is incapacitated, or resigns, the Vice-President steps in; if both the President and the Vice-President die, are incapacitated, or resign, the Senate President takes up the office. If the Senate President is unable to do so for whatever reason, the Speaker of the House of Representatives gets his turn. But not for too long. Whoever ends up being the successor actually holds the office only for as long as it takes to elect and qualify a new President.

Welcome to the Philippines, where despite the existence of clear and well-settled Constitutional rules, a statement referencing a fictional television show still has the potential to impact real-life national discourse, even if clearly only said in jest.