ARMM Speaker unseated

COTABATO CITY — Members of the 24-man Regional Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) unseated a key leader of the Moro National Liberation Front as Speaker Monday night, cutting off the last link of the MNLF to the regional leadership.

The ouster of Speaker Hatimil Hassan, a member of the MNLF’s central leadership, came 10 days before the scheduled arrival of representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to assess the implementation of the Sept. 2, 1996 truce between the government and the front.

The OIC, composed of 54 Islamic states, including petroleum-exporting countries in the Middle East, helped broker the government-MNLF accord.

After unseating Hassan, the ARMM assemblymen installed Assemblyman Paisalan Tago of Lanao del Sur as the new Speaker.

Tago, who belongs to the Lakas-Christian, Muslim Democrats, was the assembly’s minority floor leader when Hassan was still Speaker.

Tago, now in his third and last term, was first elected on Sept. 9, 1996 during the third ARMM elections, which catapulted Nur Misuari, the MNLF’s founding chairman, as governor.

Hassan’s ouster happened while ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan was with President Arroyo’s entourage in Saudi Arabia.

Tago said he will support the legislative agenda of Ampatuan, himself a former assemblyman.

Like Ampatuan and Tago, Hassan also belongs to Lakas-CMD.