SC to Palace, Congress: Answer pleas vs ARMM polls postponement

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Malacañang, the Commission on Elections, the Senate and the House of Representatives to comment on the two petitions questioning the plan to defer the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections scheduled this August. In a two-page resolution issued through the authority of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the high tribunal gave the government bodies 10 days to file their respective comments. [See: Postponement of ARMM polls faces opposition at SC] “Now, therefore, you, respondents, are hereby required to Comment on the petition within a Non Extendible period of ten days from notice hereof," said the resolution of the court en banc (full court). Last month, two groups challenged the plan to move the August 2011 ARMM polls to 2013, which would allow President Benigno Aquino III to appoint ARMM officials with interim capacities. In the first petition, ARMM residents led by lawyer Alex Macalawi asked the tribunal to prevent the passage or enactment into law of House Bill No. 4146, which seeks to postpone the ARMM elections and considered a priority legislation of the Aquino administration. They were also asking the court to render the bill "invalid, null and void for enactment as it is contrary to the 1987 Constitution and the Organic Act (for ARMM)." The other pleading was filed by a group led by Datu Michael Abas Kida, representing the Maguindanao Federation of Autonomous Irrigators Inc. They said the ARMM elections should not be conducted on August 8 this year or even in August 2013, but on the first Monday of September 2011, citing the Organic Act of ARMM. In its resolution issued Tuesday, the SC found the petitions "sufficient in form and substance." However, the high court did not issue the temporary restraining order sought by the petitioners. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMA News