ARMM officials to meet with GMA today on EO 496

COTABATO CITY — Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will meet with President Arroyo today to appeal for a speedy review of Executive Order 496, which they fear can weaken regional autonomy.

The ARMM delegation will be led by Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and his legal advisers Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, Oscar Sampulna and Ishak Mastura.

EO 496, which the President signed last Jan. 23, placed under the "oversight control" of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPPAP) four government outfits, one of which is the ARMM Social Fund for Peace and Development (ARMM-SFPD), which is supposedly operating under the regional government.

Also placed under OPPAP, as stated in EO 496, were the Mindanao Economic and Development Council, the Office of Muslim Affairs and the Mindanao Peace and Development Fund.

The Office of the Regional Governor (ORG), dubbed as the region’s "little Malacañang," exercises ministerial control over the ARMM-SFPD, which has various socio-economic projects in the areas covered by Muslim autonomy.

Guiani-Sayadi, the region’s solicitor-general, said their purpose of holding a dialogue with Mrs. Arroyo is to explain to her extensively that the continuing implementation of ARMM-SFPD projects, under Ampatuan’s management, will provide the ORG and Malacañang a common "show window" for the development components of the Southern Mindanao peace process.

"The ARMM-SFPD will be a good vehicle for the ARMM to reach out to the people in all parts of the region and, through its socio-economic projects, convince them that we have an autonomy that works and responds to the needs of impoverished Muslims in all parts of the autonomous region," Guiani-Sayadi told The Star via mobile phone.

Guiani-Sayadi, a human rights lawyer, emphasized, however, that the main objective of their dialogue with the President is not meant to question her authority in issuing EO 496, but to peacefully convince her of the ramifications of what local sectors perceive as the "adverse impact" of putting under OPAPP control the ARMM-SFPD.

"The main concern of religious, political and traditional Moro leaders in the region is the continuation of the efficient management of the ARMM-SFPD projects by the regional government itself," Guiani-Sayadi pointed out.

Arnel Datukun, dean of the college of law of the Notre Dame University here, earlier said that removing ARMM-SFPD from ORG’s control can be construed by member-countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that the government has "reservations" in allowing local Moro leaders to fully manage high-impact projects in the region.