Could've Prime Minister Joseph Estrada Survived A Parliamentary Debate Against Opposition Leader Jose De Venecia?

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Elections are around the corner and I was only 13 years old when they happened. In short, I had no voting power whatsoever. If my memory serves me right - I think Joseph "Erap" Estrada lost his cool against Jose De Venecia (whom Fidel V. Ramos wished succeeded him). If it was so then I think the Philippines should've gone parliamentary in 1987. Once more, the Marcos Years weren't a real parliamentary as revealed by the late Ninoy Aquino. I remembered the amusement some people had when Erap and De Venecia had their debate. Some people got mad over the fact that Erap won the presidential elections. There was really no check and balance. The only "check and balance" that the presidential system has is term limits defined by a fixed number of terms and not by performance. However, this would be interesting to imagine what if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was a parliament.

The timeline would go where Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino becomes the symbolic head of state with Ramos as the head of government. Let's think that the events would have Ramos leading as prime minister for two consecutive terms while Cory remains in the role of president. Cory would be doing representative duties and be sent to other countries. Cory could continue the title as "Tita Cory" to the nation like Singapore's current national symbol of unity, Halimah Yacob. After two terms, Cory decides to no longer represent the Filipino people and Ramos decides he won't be the prime minister anymore. Ramos prods De Venecia to run for prime minister. However, Erap himself has been a popular candidate because Filipino voters are yet to be that educated. It's a young parliamentary country after all and mistakes are bound to be there. 

Votation in the parliamentary system is by the party. Let's say that LAMMP wins the most number of votes because of Erap's popularity. That means the late Edgardo Angara would be his deputy prime minister. De Venecia would have Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has his deputy prime minister. The elections come in and LAMMP wins. However, LAKAS under De Venecia wins the minority seats or the opposition. This would mean that Erap would be the prime minister while De Venecia was the opposition leader. In the parliamentary, it's not a winner takes all. Instead, De Venecia serves to represent the minority floor and the Filipinos who voted him into the opposition table.

It would be very interesting to see what if Erap and De Venecia faced off head-on in the weekly question hour. Several issues like the Jose Velarde account, Erap's jueteng, etc. could've been brought up in the weekly question hour. I could imagine how Erap himself would probably make outrageous answers (eventually) in one of the weekly questionings. Erap may end up making opening statements that are so dumb that De Venecia might wrap his face with his hands during the 7.5 minutes run. De Venecia starts to fire shots and Erap might give ridiculous answers one after the other. This might cause the whole Parliament from the government to the opposition to boo at him. De Venecia could organize a vote of no confidence which would probably make EDSA-2 unnecessary. Erap may end up hanging his head in shame after the parliamentary debate.