PNoy certifies ARMM postponement bill as urgent

With only five months to go before the scheduled elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), President Benigno Aquino III has certified as urgent the bill calling for its postponement. At a press briefing in Malacañang on Friday, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Aquino signed the certification last March 14 and sent it to the House of Representatives. "It was certified as urgent last March 14 by the President then it was sent to the Speaker (Feliciano Belmonte). This is a timebound legislation, this is meant to postpone the elections in August," Lacierda said. With only three days to go before the adjournment of the session, Lacierda remained optimistic that the House will still be able to approve the proposal and there is no need for the President to call for a special session. "I think next week pwede pa. We are hoping that we will be able to secure the vote before the recess," he said. In February, the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms and committee on Muslim affairs have approved House Bill 4146 deferring the ARMM polls scheduled for August this year to May 2013. In a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting also last month, Malacañang and Congress have expressed support for the plan to synchronize the ARMM polls with the May 2013 mid-term elections. Governors from the ARMM At the same press briefing, Lacierda presented four governors in the ARMM who support the postponement of the elections. Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, Tawi-tawi Gov Sadikul Sahali and Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar even signed a manifesto supporting the postponement of the elections. They said their municipal executives are behind them in calling for the postponement of the elections. The other areas included in the ARMM are Lanao del Sur and the Islamic City of Marawi. In their manifesto, the governors said they spent considerable time under the ARMM and "became courageous witnesses to the non performance of the supposed obligations and responsibilities of the ARMM to their constituents and failure to address perennial problems concerning the development and welfare of the provinces it was obligated to serve." They said the ARMM despondently failed to address the desired services it is bound to deliver and fervently unable to effect genuine autonomy in the region. "The intercession of the President and the national government is crucial to effect the much awaited reform and the full support of the provincial governors together with our municipal executives for the postponement of the ARMM elections will pave the way to institute reforms so the people can benefit from it," they said. Manifesto of support Local officials of Sulu earlier signed a manifesto in support of the ARMM polls postponement. During the briefing, Mangudadato said the P1.2 billion budget to be used for the ARMM polls should be utilized to cleanse the electoral system in the region. "Bakit hindi gamitin ito para i-reform ang ARMM.I-biometrics natin para mawala yung command votes na sinasabi dahil nagkakaron kami lagi ng utang na loob doon sa mga taong nagdadala ng command votes na ito. Dapat malinis ito dahil nakakahiya para sa amin na laging sinasabi ang pinakacorrupt na region, pinakacorrupt na probinsiya, pinakacorrupt na local ay nanggagaling sa ARMM," he said, Tan said the deferment of the elections should give Congress a chance to revisit the Organic Act which created the ARMM. The Sulu government even want the dissolution of the ARMM, Tan said. "I talked to the President way before the filing of this measure and I even asked the President kung pwedeng tanggalin ang ARMM because ARMM is not delivering the services our people so require," he said. Sahali said most of the residents of Tawi Tawi who celebrated the establishment of the ARMM before have expressed dissatisfaction on the performance of the ARMM. "Even the Moro National Liberation Front felt they were left behind, they shed blood and their lives. In the beginning, everybody were expecting good to happen. Something must be done," he said. MILF position Akbar and Sahali believe those opposing the postponement were the ones who will be losing their posts once the elections are deferred. "Yung mga nag-ooppose ay yung mga nagtatrabaho sa ARMM ngayon. Pinangangambahan nila na mawawalan sila ng trabaho," Akbar said. Lacierda, for his part, even noted that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is in favor of the postponement of the ARMM polls. Lacierda said such information came from a text message from Al Haj Murad Ibrahim MILF chairman. "We wish to inform you that MILF poses no objection to the postponement of the forthcoming ARMM elections. Such move could generate better atmosphere in implementing a comprehensive agreement that may be crafted in the ongoing GPH- MILF peace talks," Lacierda read the text message. — RSJ, GMA News