Resolve appeals on ARMM polls, SC urged

MANILA, Philippines - Four House leaders urged the Supreme Court yesterday to resolve all pending appeals on its decision last October upholding the resetting of elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) from Aug. 8 this year to May 2013.

Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong and Tawi-Tawi Rep. Nur Jaafar, whose provinces are part of ARMM, said the SC should now make a final ruling “so that autonomous Muslim region can move forward.”

“I hope the Supreme Court will now be able to finally decide the ARMM case to put it to rest and so that what has to be done will be done,” Datumanong, a former justice secretary, said.

Jaafar said those who are questioning the October decision have been given ample time to present their case and it is now high time for the SC to make a final ruling.

“The SC should decide already, it has been a long time and people are waiting for the final ruling,” he said.

House majority leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II and Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Sherwin Tugna said prolonging the legal limbo defeats the very essence of instituting reforms, especially the necessity to change the whole set of leaders in the region.

Gonzales said the SC must expedite its ruling for the sake of reforming the ARMM.

“It should act now with the same zeal and dispatch as when it granted GMA’s TRO,” he said, referring to the temporary restraining order the court issued that effectively allowed former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to travel abroad.

“My appeal is for the Supreme Court one way or the other to decide the issue once and for all so that we can move forward,” Gonzales said.

Aside from upholding the constitutionality of the law resetting the ARMM elections, the Supreme Court decision allowed President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge who will run the autonomous region up to the synchronized national-local-ARMM polls in May 2013.