ARMM gubernatorial race: Noy to endorse Hataman?

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will be endorsing the candidacy of acting Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the May 2013 polls, in response to the clamor for continued reforms as pushed for by other governors.

Sources said Aquino met the governors of the five ARMM provinces in Malacañang last Monday afternoon, the reason why the Liberal Party proclamation party in Cavite started late.

Aquino has credited Hataman – his former colleague in Congress – for continuing the reforms he wanted in the autonomous region, which has been known for delivering command votes for the government in past elections and for the proliferation of private armies.

There is a groundswell among civil society groups in the ARMM that have launched a signature campaign to appeal to Aquino and the present OICs in the region to seriously reconsider their decisions not to run in the May 2013 ARMM polls.

The groups are apprehensive over the possible return of traditional politicians in the ARMM bureaucracy.

But Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reminded the Palace yesterday of the promise of Aquino and his allies that the person who was to be appointed as officer-in-charge of the ARMM would not be seeking the governorship in the 2013 polls. 

Marcos is chairman of the Senate committee on local government that conducted public hearings on the law which postponed the ARMM elections last year, and scheduled it to coincide with the 2013 elections.

“As I said, it’s one of the promises we extracted that the OIC cannot run,” he said. 

“It’s not in the law, but again word of honor ang usapan dito,” he said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), for its part, is keeping its hands off the ARMM polls and maintains that the election is not a factor in the peace talks.

“The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has never been a factor in the 16-year (government)-MILF peace negotiation. We don’t mind if the election in this administrative region pushes through or not. It is (a) government affair,” Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF Secretariat, said in a statement.

Mantawil was reacting to reports claiming that the MILF had asked the government to defer the ARMM polls until the peace negotiations are completed. 

The reports quoted MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar as saying that the government should postpone the ARMM polls while waiting for the outcome of the negotiations. 

Mantawil, however, said Jaafar was “grossly misquoted.” – With Alexis Romero, Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez