“The overriding principle [in not clothing the vice president with immunity] is the rule of law, ” Mendoza said. “The vice president is just like any cabinet secretary…No man is above the rule of law.”Similarly, Pacifico Agabin, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law and an expert on the Constitution, earlier told us that the vice president is not immune from suit. The Constitution does not guarantee the vice president’s immunity, he said: “It’s only the President who is immune [from suit] and that is based on tradition, because he is busy handling affairs of the state. But that cannot be said for the vice president.”We requested to interview him for this story but he begged off, saying that Vice President Binay has already engaged him.Fr Joaquin Bernas SJ, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, also categorically said that Binay is not covered by executive immunity. “No, the vice president is not immune…The Constitution doesn’t say he is immune,” he told us in a telephone interview.
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