MANILA BULLETIN: THE ARMM ELECTIONS
MANILA, APRIL 29, 2011 (MANILA BULLETIN) By ELINANDO B. CINCO - There are now encouraging developments in the legitimate determination to hold the election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as scheduled this year, not in 2013 as proposed by Malacañang allies. Mindanaoans are feverishly enlisting their support for the polls, and vehemently object to the appointment of OIC's.
The ARMM polls are scheduled by law on the second Monday of August — August 8 this year.
But a group of Datu Michael Abas Kida of Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, along with eight others, wants the election held one month later, in September, that is. He is advocating his move in his personal capacity and on behalf of the Maguindanao Federation of Autonomous Irrigators Association, Inc., said an e-mail statement sent to this columnist.
In a petition filed with the Supreme Court, they asked for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the national government, particularly the Senate, House of Representatives, Commission on Elections, Office of the President, Department of Budget and Management, and the National Treasurer, to stop the holding of the August 8 election and hold it instead on September 12, 2011.
The August 8, 2011, date for the ARMM election is pursuant to the provisions of RA 9333, which specifies that the regular elections for ARMM officials shall be held on the second Monday of August.
But the Kida group contends that this violates the Organic Act of the ARMM, which reset the elections in the ARMM to the second Monday of September. They said the region's organic law should take precedence over other laws.
What's significant about the group is their spirited opposition to House Bill 4146, which was apparently railroaded past the Lower Chamber and faces stiff opposition in the Senate, as explained in this column last April 18.
HB 4146 seeks to postpone the ARMM election to 2013 and allow the President to appoint a caretaker government for the region. The Kida group argues that this would deny the voters in ARMM their right to elect their officials for a period of two years, in violation of their right to equal protection of the law.
The petitioners are saying that HB 4146 cannot amend the Organic Act of ARMM. And as it has no provision for a plebiscite, it breaches the provision of RA 9054 which requires any amendment to be approved by a majority of votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose.
They maintain that HB 4146 "would unjustly discriminate against voters in the ARMM vis-à-vis voters in the rest of the country, that is, with respect to the right to regularity of elections. The equal protection clause protects not only civil but also political rights of voters.
The group accuses Congress of treating ARMM elections as a "moveable feast," and in "fast and loose fashion." And they are right. A perusal of the list they made of various bills since 1992 seeking to change the dates of political exercises in ARMM would indeed show that the legislature has been "capricious and whimsical" and can't seem to get enough of playing around with the very concept of regional autonomy.
The Kida group argues that the Organic Act of a territory takes the place of the Constitution as the fundamental law of the local government. In that context, it follows that when such Constitution (or Organic Act) fixes the details for the exercise of the right of suffrage, the legislature cannot take or add to such details unless the power to do so is conferred by the Constitution (or Organic Act) itself, continues the statement.
In the case of the ARMM, they said, it is clear that its Organic Law (RA 9054) is superior to any ordinary statute passed by Congress. The reasons for this are found both in the 1987 Constitution and in RA 9054, they added.
Of course, we can't tell at this point how the Supreme Court will rule on this petition. But the Kida group appears to have done a thorough legal research and their arguments are sound. I would think that whether it's in August or September, the ARMM polls should be held this year, not in 2013.
As an outsider looking in, postponing the ARMM election for two years and appointing officers-in-charge for key ARMM posts greatly undermines the very concept of self-rule for Muslim Mindanao.
The Aquino administration should let ARMM people decide their future on their own, by letting them vote for their own candidates this year, and certainly by not imposing leaders without any mandate from the electorate.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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