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ARMM
polls postponement remains challenged
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from
NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.16
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The Supreme Court (SC) required the Office
of the President (OP) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to
comment within 10 days on the oppositions challenging Republic Act
10153, a law postponing the August 8, 2011 elections in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Last week, House Minority Leader Rep. Edcel C. Lagman filed a
petition contending the RA 10153 by enumerating certain infirmities
in the law that postponed the ARMM polls. He cited that the law
“violated and vitiated all the built-in safeguards of autonomy of
ARMM.” Lagman’s petition also said that the law “violated the
constitutional guaranty of elective officials in the ARMM” and it is
an “unconstitutional expansion of the limited power of the
President” of the ARMM’s general supervision. The representative
from Albay further added that the
law deprives ARMM constituents of their autonomy.
He also questioned the validity of the enactment of the law since
the Senate was not able to gather a two-thirds vote for the bill’s
passage.
Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, in his petition, argued that
ARMM’s autonomy is neglected by postponing the ARMM elections to
synchronize it with the 2013 national and local elections. He also
said in his petition that the appointment of officers-in-charge is
unconstitutional, as the will-be officers-in-charge of the ARMM were
not duly elected by the voters but were picked by the President in
exchange of their loyalty.
Macalintal further added that “the new law still needs approval by
the ARMM voters in a plebiscite,” therefore it is not effective yet.
A group of Muslim leaders and prominent politicians in Mindanao also
filed a petition before the SC urging the high court to issue a
temporary restraining order against the implementation of the
postponement law. Among those who joined the group are former
Tawi-Tawi governor Almarin Centi Tillah, Prof. Datu Casan Conding
Cana and PDP Laban president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. The group
alleged that RA 10153 “is an encroachment of the political autonomy
of the ARMM,” and this has violated provisions in the constitution
that limits the President’s power to mere general supervision, and
disallows the chief executive to have control over the ARMM.
The three petitions that were filed separately before the SC urged
the high court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the
implementation of the law postponing the ARMM elections. The SC gave
the OP and the Comelec a non-extendible period of ten days to give
their comment on the petitions intended to allow the elections in
the ARMM to push through in August this year.
(Various news sources)
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