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ARMM poll postponement unconstitutional — Macalintal


Postponing the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) scheduled this August is unconstitutional, a veteran poll lawyer categorically said Monday. "I think it should push through. I believe that the postponement of an election, a scheduled election at that, is unconstitutional," said Romulo Macalintal at a forum at the Diamond Hotel in Manila. Macalintal is the former election lawyer of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. According to Macalintal, postponing the ARMM elections to synchronize it with the 2013 elections is unconstitutional because it will practically extend the term of elected officials in the area. "In a republican government like ours, we cannot govern without the mandate of the people," said Macalintal, who was earlier considered by President Benigno Aquino III to head the Commission on Elections (Comelec). No OICs Referring to Aquino’s plan to appoint interim ARMM officials, Macalintal said the Philippine Constitution does not say that the President or any other person can appoint officers-in-charge to momentarily hold the position of local officials in ARMM until the next elections. "Walang election, wala pang mandate (No election, no mandate), that would clearly violate the Constitution," he said. He added that if the Palace's reasoning for the postponement of the elections is the peace process, then they have no "valid ground" to back its proposal. "I don't think postponing the elections is an answer to the question on the peace process in the ARMM," he said. Drilon's bill Sen. Franklin Drilon, a member of Aquino’s Liberal Party, has filed Senate Bill 2756 calling for the deferral of elections in the region’s five provinces, and giving Aquino the power to appoint officers-in-charge until new officials are elected in 2013. The bill was filed a day after the House of Representatives approved its version of the measure, which has earlier been certified as urgent by Aquino. The postponement of the ARMM elections, however, has been opposed by at least three senators —Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Francis Escudero — even before Drilon’s bill was filed. The bill has already been referred to the Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Marcos, and will have to be approved at the panel and on the Senate floor for it to be passed. After this, a bicameral conference committee will be convened to reconcile the respective versions of the House and Senate. Macalintal noted, however, that the Organic Act of the ARMM provides that an amendment to the law must be approved in a plebiscite by majority of the voters who cast their votes in the plebiscite. But he said that the Comelec does not have the “luxury" to conduct a plebiscite because this would need months of campaign. He likewise said that the plebiscite is also subject to any protest. - KBK, GMA News

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