ARMM elections

President Aquino faces one of his first serious challenges — convincing legislators to postpone the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections long scheduled for August this year to May 2013. The opposition to his proposal was dramatically expressed by 10 out of 13 Mindanao lawmakers who walked out of the joint meetings of the committees on Suffrage and Electoral Reform and on Muslim Affairs last week, saying they wanted the plenary debates on HB No. 4146 stopped.

The House Committee on Muslim Affairs had approved HB 4146 — which had been certified by the President as urgent — seeking the postponement of the ARMM election and synchronizing it with the mid-term elections in May 2013. It also seeks to empower the President to name ARMM officers-in-charge (OICs) until a new set of officials has been elected in the May election.

I have observed that those opposing postponement are Muslims and Christians, supporters of the President and members of the Opposition. Supporters are also a curious mix of Muslims and Christians, legislators, liberal and democratic thinkers, each with his own ideas on what is good for ARMM.

Why does the administration want the August election postponed?

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press conference that the President’s proposal aims to address the causes of rebellion and hopelessness in ARMM; synchronize the ARMM and national elections (in 2013) for the sake of the economy; and “restore the healthy vitality of the democratic process as it eliminates the captive voting blocks that keep regional leaders in power and enable them to sell votes to the highest bidder in the national elections.”

One of the supporters and trusted men of the late President Corazon Aquino, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, believes postponing the August election will not do good for the region. In a telephone conversation, Senator Pimentel told me, “The administration will make a big blunder if it postpones the ARMM elections as scheduled by law. First, it betrays the national government’s intent to interfere with the electoral processes in the region and render nugatory the constitutional intent to make the region truly autonomous. Second, it is reminiscent of the penchant of martial law authorities to appoint officials of areas they want to control politically.”

Pimentel continued, “It disenfranchises the Moro peoples of the region of their right to elect their own leaders, and, if made to coincide with the national elections in 2013, it will fertilize the seeds of fraudulent elections in the region because for obvious reasons the COMELEC, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and the NGO electoral watchdogs and other concerned citizens would not be able to concentrate their attention on the ARMM elections.”

Over all, said Nene, the proposed postponement “is a retrogressive step that bars our Moro brothers and sisters from proving that given a chance they can pursue their just aspirations in a peaceful and just manner.”

The arguments for and against the postponement have reached this columnist. The idea that the postponement proposal is latched to the resolution of the peace talks with the Moro National Labor Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is not acceptable to Cotabato City commentator Fr. Eliseo “Jun” Mercado, OMI. The peace process in Southern Philippines, he noted, “would NOT come to an ‘end’ in three years or before the elections of 2013. Even if agreement is signed with the MILF before the 2013 elections, the said peace agreement still has to be legislated by Congress, and a plebiscite done to ratify the agreement. Both the negotiation and the consequent legislation are long and tedious work. It is a wrong and definitely bad policy to hold the ARMM structures and leadership hostage to the vagaries of peace negotiation and legislation by Congress.”

On the charge of flawed elections in the ARMM, Mercado said “the appropriate action is not canceling elections but introducing reforms in the conduct of elections in the ARMM beginning with the book of registered voters.”

Another widely read commentator, Mon Casiple, noted that postponement and an OIC could not ensure a democratic reform path “to break the rule of the warlord clans in the area and ensure ARMM development. This is self-serving at its worst.”

“Democracy cannot be built and strengthened without institutionalizing democratic practices. The Aquino administration – with its avowed democratic legacy – will be far better off by making sure democracy works in ARMM, not by presidential fiat but by ensuring the will of the Moro people are respected and affirmed.”

Taking up the cudgels for the government, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the postponement “is constitutionally and legally defensible.” Synchronized voting for ARMM officials and electing members of Congress and local officials in May 2013, she said, is in accordance with the Constitution. “The Constitution has an express policy on synchronization of elections for national and local officials, and ARMM offices are considered as local officials.” As to the appointment of OICs, de Lima said, “The President has the residual power to appoint OICs. This is also consistent with the principle that the law abhors a vacuum.”

So it appears postponement will have rough sailing. A columnist quoted Rep. Simeon Datumanong as saying that while the ARMM may not be perfect, the government must allow it to work without compromising the people’s right of suffrage.

 It will do well for the administration to listen to the arguments of those opposed to postponement. The issue is serious, and needs healing of wounded sensitivities.

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“Live Your Dream Sale,” a two-day long silent auction sponsored by Soroptimist International of Makati, will enable bidders to own, among many precious items, Erap’s wristband used during the 2010 presidential campaign, an autographed presidential polo of former President Fidel V. Ramos, or paintings by Rep. Gina de Venecia and singers Basil Valdez and Ogie Alcasid. The dream sale will be held March 5-6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Formoso Hall of Rockwell’s Architectural Center, Makati. Auctions committee chair Tess Gonzalez, who’s excited about the personal items donated by celebrities, says valuable jewelry and interesting artifacts will also be auctioned off.  

Proceeds of the project will benefit programs that improve the lives of women and girls in the Soroptimist’s adopted barangays in Makati and Pasay.

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My e-mail: [email protected]