Group asks SC to lift TRO on ARMM poll postponement

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangsamoro Solidarity Movement and Minority Rights Forum Philippines Inc. asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to lift its order that temporarily stopped Malacañang from implementing the law that postponed the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections originally set last month and appointing officers-in-charge (OIC) in the region.

In a nine-page urgent motion, the group questioned the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Court last Sept. 13 on the implementation of Republic Act 10153, the law synchronizing the ARMM polls to the May 2013 national elections.

“The TRO, with all due respect, is deemed interference in the power of the President to appoint within its sphere of department. The automatic holdover clause is deemed legislative automatic appointment by legislature of person outside the legislative departments. And for this Honorable Court to favor holdover is a denial of President Aquino’s executive discretionary power of appointment,” they argued.

The TRO allowed incumbent ARMM officials to keep their posts in a holdover capacity, should the court fail to resolve the consolidated petitions questioning the new law until Sept. 30 when their term expires, and intervenors argued that this should not be allowed.

“The holdover capacity is executive in nature and by affirming the holdover capacity, there is a violation of separation of powers, with all due respect, committed,” the group said.

Intervenors also pointed out that the SC should have given presumption of constitutionality of RA 10153 since it has yet to decide on the merits of the case.

“The issuance of the TRO is in effect granting relief of the petitioners without deciding the merits of the case. As such, its issuance in itself has effect of prejudging the outcome of the main case,” they argued.

After filing their pleading, hundreds of members of the two groups and their supporters from All Moro Alliance for Reforms demonstrated their protest against the TRO in front of the SC building at Padre Faura Street in Manila.

“The TRO is a political decision. The Supreme Court took into itself the power to appoint OICs in ARMM because it ordered holdover of incumbent officials. It seems that the Court wants to keep the old, rotten system that President Aquino wants to correct,” said Darwin Rasul III, spokesman for the All Moro Alliance for Reforms.

Rasul believes that the order was just the Court’s way of imposing its power over the executive department.

“There could be no other objective behind this TRO but to shame the current administration. Apart from obvious insult, it is clear that the court wants to divide the Bangsamoro and proliferate the conflict within it,” he further alleged.