Noynoy better listen to people of ARMM

CONSULTATIONS: At least the government is going through the motions of asking the people of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao what they think of (1) House Bill 4146 postponing until 2013 the ARMM elections set by law this August, (2) allowing incumbent officials to hold over during the hiatus, or (3) replacing them starting September with Officers-in-Charge to be appointed by President Noynoy Aquino.

The House Committees on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms and Muslim Affairs conducted a public hearing recently at the Sharif Kabungsuan Complex in Cotabato City, the first of three consultations. Another one was held yesterday in Marawi City and a third one is set today in Zamboanga City.

In Cotabato, since the legislative intent was to plumb public opinion, some of those present found it odd that two Cabinet secretaries, seated at the presidential table together with the congressmen, were given major speaking parts.

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CABINET VIEWS: Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo told the gathering it was the wishes of President Aquino and nobody else’s to postpone the 2011 elections until 2013 — and to appoint OICs during the interval.

He said the President wanted to ensure that the electoral process is safeguarded so the fraud that had marred previous exercises and the corruption by elected officials would be stopped.

Unmindful of the ARMM officials around him, Robredo talked of the President’s alleged best intentions for the region, which he noted remains to be among the poorest areas in the country because of corruption and bad governance.

Next to speak, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima defended the legality of the President’s plan to appoint OICs once the incumbents’ term expires in September 2011.

She said the President has the power to do so under the Revised Administrative Code of 1987. Passing HB 4146, she added, will not amend RA 9054 (the Organic Act of Muslim Mindanao), but merely amend RA 9333 seeking to reset the ARMM elections. Ergo, she said, enacting HB 4146 will not require a plebiscite as provided under RA 9054.

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PRO-POSTPONEMENT: Maguindanao Rep. Sandra Sema, Maguindanao Gov. Toto Mangudadatu, Vice Gov. Dustin Mastura, and Sulu Rep. “Lady Ann” Sahidula supported postponement.

The head of the Evangelic Group of Cotabato, Troy Cordero, also sought postponement, visibly pleasing Sema who clapped hard for every supporter’s remarks. She and Sahidula supported Sen. Manny Villar in the last presidential elections, but they have turned Liberal.

Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong, chairman of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs, delivered impassioned remarks, explaining that a group of congressmen (including him) who did not vote for RA 4146 had pleaded with the President that the public be consulted about the bill.

Loong said that no one can dictate upon the Moro people and that it was entirely up to them to go ahead and hold the elections as scheduled or to give up their right to freely select the people who should represent them. This was met by generous applause.

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CONTRARY VIEWS: ARMM Department of Education Director for Secondary Education Hamid Ladjakahal said the bill fosters divisiveness among the Moros. He asked plaintively, “Why do you want to divide us?”

He said real autonomy requires that the people exercise their right to select their leaders. The bill did not even set criteria for the selection of OICs, he added. Opposing Robredo’s views, he asked, “Where in the country is there no corruption, where in the country is there no poverty?”

Amira Lidasan, representing the non-government organization Healing Democracy, also countered Robredo. She asked why the ARMM was being singled out on corruption, declaring to wild applause that the ARMM merely represented a microcosm of Philippine politics and governance.

She asked rhetorically if Robredo was questioning the results of the 2010 elections in the ARMM, especially the victory of Aquino there.

She balked at Sema’s declaration that the postponement was supported by the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MNLF/MILF aspirations could not be pursued validly or feasibly within the context of regional autonomy, she added.

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HOLDOVER ASSSAILED: The ARMM’s Executive Secretary, Naguib C. Sinarimbo, opined that allowing officials to serve on holdover capacity has been held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in its ruling on Osmena vs. COMELEC and in Menzon vs. Petilla. He vowed that if the President allowed a holdover until 2013, he would resign.

Sinarimbo pleaded that Muslims be allowed to elect their own leaders as scheduled. He asked that the ARMM be given a chance to transform itself through the natural course of events, stressing that democracy and autonomy — which he said are the two most important legacies of President Cory Aquino — be allowed to flourish, despite the imperfections of Philippine democracy.

Speaker Ronnie Sinsuat, on behalf of the Regional Legislative Assembly, presented a unanimously adopted resolution strongly opposing the postponement of the elections on the ground that it was unconstitutional and undemocratic.

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PEOPLE WIN: My sources who were at the hearing said that, overall, many spectators said the people won in that first public consultation.

They described it as “a democratic process that momentarily saved the day for the House of Representatives whose leadership railroaded the approval of HB 4146 at the committee level.”

They noted that “at a time when nations in the Middle East are fighting with their lives for the chance to install democracy, the Philippine government is seeking to tinker with it.”

There was extensive press coverage of the consultation. President Aquino may want to look at the unedited footage for his own, objective processing.

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