Estrada backs postponement of ARMM elections to 2001

President Estrada expressed support yesterday for the Senate measure seeking to postpone the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to coincide with the 2001 local polls.

In his speech at the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Department of Labor and Employment and the International Labor Organization, the President also announced the review of the executive order creating the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD).

"We will review the proposal to postpone the ARMM election to coincide with the 2001 elections in order to give all parties the chance to improve further the atmosphere of peace in Mindanao," Mr. Estrada said.

The ARMM, under Gov. Nur Misuari, who is also chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front and the SPCPD, is originally scheduled to hold its elections last March but Congress passed a law postponing it to September this year.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, chairman of the Senate committee on local governments, has called for the new postponement of the elections to coincide with the 2001 local elections.

"Please give me time also to review the executive order creating the SPCPD so that I will have enough basis in making it more responsive to the peace and development process," the President said.

The creation of the SPCPD was sought by Misuari before agreeing to a peace agreement with the government as MNLF head. The SPCPD is supposed to be an interim body while the proposed expansion of the ARMM is not yet in place.

Under the memorandum of agreement between the DOLE and ILO, the two bodies agreed to coordinate and share expertise, experience, information, materials and methodologies regarding their respective programs for the MNLF and their communities within the Special Zone of Peace and Development (SZOPAD).

Mr. Estrada sought the help of the ILO and the MNLF to hasten the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"I am not asking for your formal and direct participation. Instead, I would like you to show them what peace can bring to all of us," he said.

He explained that nobody could explain the meaning of peace more than the members of the MNLF who had experienced the harshness of war for almost three decades.