'ARMM bill will be out for Senate vote'

Manila, Philippines - Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who chairs the Senate committee on local government, yesterday gave assurance that the bill calling for the postponement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections will be debated and subjected to a final vote before Congress adjourns on June 10.

This means that even if the Senate votes against a postponement, the Commission on Elections would still have enough time to prepare for the ARMM polls scheduled on Aug. 8.

The Senate committee on local government along with the committee on constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws will hold one more hearing on the bill this Tuesday before preparing the committee report for floor debates.

“I have informed my colleagues, Sen. Franklin Drilon and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, of the schedule of the committee so as to give them enough time, following procedure, to ensure that a vote by all senators takes place before adjournment,” Marcos said.

Drilon, a Liberal Party ally of President Aquino, is the principal author of the Senate counterpart bill for the postponement of the ARMM polls.

Marcos added that his committee has also “communicated this agreement in the Senate” to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Robert Llamas, assuring them that “the committee report will be submitted in time for a vote.”

Malacañang has been prodding Marcos and his colleagues in the Senate to act on the bill, which was certified as urgent by the President.

At the House of Representatives which earlier had approved its own postponement bill, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez yesterday said there is no more time for Congress to defer the elections.         

With six more session days to go before the mandatory adjournment of the congressional session on June 9, lawmakers have obviously run out of time to approve a postponement bill, he said.

– With Jess Diaz