Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Mrs. Arroyo gave the directive after Commission on Elections chairman Alfredo Benipayo informed her that the poll body was ready to hold the plebiscite, even in troubled areas in Mindanao.
The plebiscite will push through despite objections by ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari who wants it and the regional elections postponed to 2003.
"We have to follow the law that the plebiscite should be held (this month) and the elections in September. If this has to be amended, the MNLF, which is the main participant here, would have to lobby in Congress for a revision of the law," Tiglao said.
Palace sources said Mrs. Arroyo met her security advisers yesterday to discuss the "emerging situation" in Mindanao, with the plebiscite as an added factor.
The Comelec said the plebiscite will be held in the following areas: Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; Isabela, Basilan; Tawi-Tawi; Dapitan City and Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte; Zamboanga City and Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur; Zamboanga Sibugay; Sulu;
Digos City, Davao del Sur; General Santos City and Koronadal City, South Cotabato; Sarangani; Kidapawan City, North Cotabato; Iligan City, Lanao del Norte; Marawi City, Lanao del Sur; Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat; Cotabato City; and Maguindanao.
Residents of these places will be asked if they favor the inclusion of their province or city in the expanded ARMM set-up.
In Cotabato, meanwhile, political and religious leaders have started waging an extensive propaganda campaign against the expansion of the ARMM.
Spending his own money, North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol contracted the other day all broadcast outfits of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. to air daily his taped messages detailing what he claimed were "disadvantages" of a such a set-up.
Piñol said the bigger autonomous set-up will only curtail the fiscal, administrative and political autonomy they are now enjoying under the Local Government Code.
"There will be another layer of bureaucracy that will stand between our (local governments) and the national government. There will be too much red tape, a bloated bureaucracy and a great magnitude of administrative constraints," he said. — Marichu Villanueva, Sandy Araneta and John Unson