WITH the Senate approval of the counterpart bill calling for the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has put on hold all preparations, while waiting for the final decision of the bicameral conference committee and President Aquino’s signing of the bill into law.
However, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said there is no sign of relief yet as the constitutionality of the bill will surely be questioned in the Supreme Court (SC).
Brillantes is worried, saying the poll body would have a problem if the SC issues a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a mandatory injunction to stop the postponement of the ARMM elections.
“We cannot impose a timeline to the SC. But we are informing the public that if manual elections would be used, the Comelec can wait up to June 15. We want to remind everybody na by June 15, dapat meron nang firm position,” Brillantes told reporters.
“In the event that the ARMM elections push through…even for manual elections, we have to start preparations by June 15,” he added.
Mandatory injunction is a court order to discontinue the passage of the proposed bill, while a TRO is a temporary measure in the enactment of the law in a certain period of time.
If the SC rules on holding the elections in August as scheduled, Brillantes said the poll body may seek a deferment for one or two months so that all preparations will be in place for the polls.
Late Monday night, the Senate voted 13-7 for the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 2756 that synchronizes the ARMM elections with the midterm elections in 2013.
The bill also allows Mr. Aquino to appoint officers in charge (OIC), who will serve until 2013, since the terms of the incumbent officials in the province will end on August 8.
2 bishops dismayed
TWO bishops in Mindanao expressed disappointment over the Senate’s approval of the bill seeking to defer the ARMM elections.
Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad and Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo expressed dismay over the Senate’s decision.
Jumoad said the postponement of the ARMM elections is an apparent example of “Manila imperialism.”
“I feel sad because, again, imperial Manila is the one making the decision for Mindanao. The law is not respected and we, here in Mindanao, are not given the opportunity to choose our own leaders….We want the elections and not the imposition of leaders,” Jumoad said.
Bagoforo said the postponement of the elections violates the principle of autonomy.
He said there were negative reactions from the residents of Mindanao, believing that protest against the bill will surge.
“I think the protest on that decision will continue,” he stressed.
Jumoad warned the government that the postponement of the elections could result in renewed political tensions in ARMM.
The director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance of the Cotabato City-based Notre Dame University also scored the Senate.
Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI, the chairman of Kusog Mindanaw, said what the Senate did in voting 13-7 on Monday night in favor of the postponement of the ARMM elections was a “lethal blow to the little autonomy and self-determination” of the region.
Mercado said what the Senate did was already an amendment of the Organic Act of the ARMM.
Republic Act 9054, or the Organic Act for the ARMM, provides that the President only has supervisory powers and not control over ARMM.
The measure postponing the ARMM elections also gives power to the President to appoint his hand-picked people to govern the autonomous region, which runs counter to the Organic Act, Mercado said.
Added that the postponement of the ARMM elections is also a blow to the peace process as it gives “license” to the combatants that “it is business as usual” in the region.
He advised ARMM stakeholders to “continue to fight for autonomy and self-determination.”
Mercado also told ARMM politicians to “remove your price tag!”
PPCRV also disappointed
THE Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) also expressed disappointment, saying the August 8 ARMM elections is a mandated order by the election law.
“The postponement of the August 8 regional polls manifests and trivializes the autonomy of ARMM from the country. With the possible postponement of the ARMM elections,” PPCRV chairman Henrietta de Villa said.
She hopes that the people of ARMM will not allow themselves to be used for partisan politics, but instead act as one for true development in the province.
“PPCRV hopes and prays that as President Aquino intends, reforms will truly be put in place during this interim period and that Comelec is serious in automating the 2013 elections” de Villa told reporters on Tuesday.
Malacañang, however, welcomed the decision of the Senate to support the postponement of the ARMM elections.
In a statement, the Palace said the Senate vote for the passage of SB 2756 “is a great step toward systemic reform in the region.”
“Beyond that, the vote also signifies the willingness of our leaders to join the people in the straight and righteous path toward genuine, meaningful change.”
The Palace added that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile demonstrated stalwart leadership, as did Sen. Franklin Drilon in shepherding this bill through the halls of the Senate.
“The administration has always maintained that only through synchronization can true democracy—unencumbered by patronage and transactional politics—be felt in the ARMM, where the people have been denied a chance at a dignified life.”
Malacañang said since the bill has been passed in the Senate, “we can look forward to the implementation of wider-ranging reforms to enable the people’s voice to be truly heard.”
“May this mark the dawn of development efforts taking root in the region, where progress for the benefit of all—and not merely for the powerful few—is achieved.”
Bill likely to reach SC—senators
SENATORS anticipate that the administration bill they passed by a 13-7 vote on Monday night postponing the August 8 elections in the ARMM will likely be questioned by oppositors in the Supreme Court.
“Pribilehiyo po nilang dalhin sa Korte Suprema ang kaso, wala pong makakapigil sa kanila ngunit ako po ay naniniwala na may basehan ang aming ginawang ipagpaliban ang halalan [at isabay sa halalan] sa Mayo 2013,” proadministration Sen. Frank Drilon, the ARMM bill’s principal proponent, said.
After more than six hours of plenary debates on Monday night, 13 senators, led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Majority Leader Tito Sotto, Teofisto Guingona III, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Miriam Santiago, Pilar Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Antonio Trillanes, Gregorio Honasan and Drilon, voted in favor of House Bill 4164 synchronizing the ARMM polls with the 2013 midterm national and local elections. Seven other senators—Joker Arroyo, Serge Osmena, Edgardo Angara, Francis Escudero, Miguel Zubiri, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Bongbong Marcos—voted against the bill.
Drilon told reporters there is enough time for the Senate and the House to ratify the final version of the ARMM poll bill before Congress adjourns on Thursday.
“Two things can happen: either the House accepts our amendment and, therefore, that would dispense with the bicameral conference committee, or if they will not accept, we can still meet in bicam tomorrow morning,” he said.
Drilon declared the differences between the Senate and House versions of the ARMM bill are “that substantial.”
“We can finish the bicam in one hour and submit it for ratification tomorrow afternoon. But I am confident that if the House will look at our amendments, I don’t think there is any substantial difference. I have very briefly discussed with Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales the deletion of the ineligibility of the officers in charge and he has no problems with that,” he said.
Drilon was referring to a provision in the House version that bars OICs to be appointed as replacements of outgoing incumbent ARMM officials from running in the next ARMM elections on 2013.
According to Drilon, there is a good chance that the House will just adopt the Senate version so that there would be no need to convene a bicameral conference committee hearing, so that the bill would be ready for signing into law by President Aquino next week.
(With B. Fabe, B. Fernandez and R. Mercene)
