Hataman appointment questioned before Supreme Court

MANILA, Philippines - Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday questioned before the Supreme Court (SC) the appointment of former Anak Mindanao party-list congressman Mujiv Hataman as officer-in-charge (OIC) governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In a seven-page very urgent motion, the veteran lawyer asked the SC to nullify Hataman’s appointment pending resolution of his appeal of its decision last Oct. 18 upholding the postponement to 2013 of the ARMM polls originally set last August and affirming President Aquino’s power to appoint OICs in the region under Republic Act 10153.

Macalintal specifically asked the SC to issue a clarificatory resolution declaring “still effective and existing” the provision in the temporary restraining order (TRO) last Sept. 13 allowing the incumbent ARMM elective officials to continue performing their functions.

Macalintal argued that the Oct. 18 decision dismissing his petitions assailing the constitutionality of RA10153 is not yet final and executory.

“The TRO, being part of the said decision, is likewise the subject of the motions for reconsideration filed by the petitioners aggrieved by the said decision of the Supreme Court, hence, the said TRO is still valid and existing since its lifting, like the main decision, is not yet final and executory in view of the timely filing of the said motions for reconsideration,” he said.

Macalintal cited two cases decided by the SC to support his motion.

“In a resolution issued by the (SC) on Aug. 26, 1993 in the case of Samad vs Comelec (GR 107854) wherein a decision also lifted a previously issued TRO, the court clarified that ‘the lifting of the temporary restraining order is part of the decision and like the rest thereof could be the subject of a motion for reconsideration.’ In other words, the main decision including the portion lifting the TRO is not yet final and executory,” he said.

Macalintal also cited the Sept. 23, 1994 resolution of the SC in the case of Tolentino vs Secretary of Finance (GR 115455) where, despite the initial decision upholding the validity of the implementation of the Value-Added Tax and the lifting of the TRO against the VAT, the tribunal reminded the Bureau of Internal Revenue that its decision, including the lifting of the TRO, “is not yet final and the TRO previously issued has not been lifted” when the period to file a motion for reconsideration by the aggrieved party has not yet lapsed or such a motion is still pending resolution by the court.

Macalintal said that in the same ruling, the SC held that it “looks with disapproval upon the manifestation (to implement the decision) which borders on disrespect if not outright insolence.”

With this, he urged the SC to advise parties to let incumbent ARMM elective officials “continue to perform their functions in a holdover capacity,” until further orders from the SC.

Other petitioners in the case – former Tawi-Tawi governor Almarim Centi Tillah, professor Datu Casan Conding and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban – also filed a similar pleading yesterday.

Through lawyer former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., they said the appointment of Hataman “cannot but be interpreted as an insidious attempt at demeaning the judicial process itself.”

“The foregoing acts of the respondents (Palace) pose an imminent danger to the Rule of Law and portend dire events in the ARMM by installing a non-elected Governor and Vice Governor who would now be empowered to implement policies that will directly impact on their lives in a manner reminiscent of the authoritarian rule in the 70s, a rule that was and is now imposed by people in high places of government in Manila, and not by authority of the sovereign will of the people of the ARMM,” they said.

In a text message to The STAR, Pimentel said Hataman’s appointment was “a legal shortcut that is reminiscent of authoritarian rule by the executive during the martial law era.”