Lagman asks SC to nullify law postponing 2011 ARMM elections

UPDATED 12:10 p.m. - Shortly after President Benigno Aquino III enacted Republic Act No. 10153, an opposition legislator on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to nullify the law postponing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections scheduled this August. The law also synchronizes the ARMM polls with the May 2013 mid-term polls. It would also allow President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge as the region awaits the conduct of its elections in May 2013. In a 76-page petition, House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman asked the high court to strike down the law for being "unconstitutional and invalid" because it deprives the region of the autonomy accorded by the Constitution. "All of the built-in safeguards of autonomy in ARMM had been violated and vitiated by RA 10153," said Lagman. Lagman also asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent Malacañang from implementing RA 10153. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. was impleaded as the direct respondent because he is the president's alter ego in charge of executing the law. He also asked the SC to order the Commission on Elections to push through with the conduct of the August 8, 2011 ARMM elections. Lagman, a staunch critic of the Aquino administration, was also among the petitioners last year who sought to declare Aquino's Executive Order No. 1 as unconstitutional. The order created the Truth Commission which would have investigated the various corruption allegations that hounded the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In December last year, the SC gave weight to Lagman's petition and ruled that EO 1 violated the Constitution. Lagman's petition In his petiton challenging the validity of RA 1153, Lagman said the law violates the 1987 Constitution's provisions that ensure the ARMM's autonomy and the provisions of the ARMM Organic Acts. Lagman said RA 10153 "is not effective and enforceable for not having been approved in a mandatory plebiscite required by the Organic Act." He added that postponing the elections would deprive ARMM residents of their autonomy. "Elections are the bedrock of democratic republicanism and any postponement of elections must not be motivated by contrived and partisan reasons," the lawmaker added. He likewise questioned whether the President's enactment of RA 10153 is valid because the Senate was unable to shore up the necessary "two-thirds extraordinary majority vote" that would legitimize the Senate's bill enactment into law. Last June 6, the Senate deliberated on House of Representatives' House Bill No. 4146, which sought the postponement of the ARMM elections. In their proceedings, 13 senators voted to approve the bill, seven voted against it, while three senators were absent during the nominal voting. "Verily, the Senate failed to obtain the mandatory two-thirds vote of all of the Senators to validly pass an amendment to the Organic Act, as amended," said Lagman. Lagman: Aquino cannot appoint OICs in ARMM He also argued that the Charter expressly provides that executive and legislative officials in ARMM must be elected. Thus, having the President appoint officers-in-charge is unconstitutional, said Lagman. "The Constitution grants only the power of general supervision, not control, to the President over ARMM officials. The statutory grant to the President to appoint OICs in ARMM under RA 10153 is unconstitutional because the power to appoint and remove OICs is a veritable power of control," Lagman said. - VVP, GMA News