SC magistrates want clarity on OICs in ARMM poll postponement case

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on the petition questioning the postponement to 2013 of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with the justices seeking clarity on why government will appoint officers-in-charge (OICs). Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio asked Solicitor-General Jose Anselmo Cadiz why the law that postponed the ARMM polls allows OICs to run in 2013. "How will you institute reforms if there will be a conflict of interest," Carpio said. Cadiz responded that the OICs are allowed to run in 2013 as part of their "constitutional guarantee to equal access" to public office. Cadiz also stressed that the poll postponement was a "natural consequence" of synchronizing the regional elections with the national polls. Government will merely be "taking advantage of the gap" created by the poll postponement — around one year and nine months — by "cleansing" the voters' list in the southern Mindanao region, he added. However, Justice Carpio was concerned. "That's a dangerous precedent to postpone just to cleanse… The only justification should be for synchronization. If cleansing will be used to justify, when will it end?" he said, citing poll problems in the region had remained unresolved in the last 25 years. Chief Justice Renato Corona was particular about the OICs being selected instead of elected. He also asked why postponement proponents "were so particular about 2013?" "Why don't we just have synchronize everything in 2016?" Corona asked. In his remarks, Cadiz said the foiled attack on Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu in Tacurong City on Monday is proof of the necessity to first effect reforms in the region before holding elections. "Not that political attack is new, but according to the Philippine National Police, it was the first time a roadside car bomb was used in the ARMM... So what was commonplace in Afghanistan and Iraq was introduced in ARMM," Cadiz said. Two people were killed in the blast, while several others were hurt. Prelude to the oral arguments Prior to the latest oral arguments, former Representative Jacinto Paras asserted that appointing OICs in ARMM was a usurpation of the region's autonomy. "It is not in accordance with the mandate by people under autonomy to choose their own officials," Paras said. Supporters of poll postponement however told the court, "appointing is not contrary to the President's supervisory powers." Last week, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said there is no need to appoint OICs because the incumbent ARMM governor, vice governor, and Legislative Assembly members can retain their positions in holdover capacity until the May 2013 elections — as provided by the Organic Act of ARMM or Republic Act No. 9054. Earlier, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said top leaders of the member provinces of the ARMM selected Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan as the region's representative in the screening committee that will come up with a shortlist of nominees. Mangudadatu also revealed that his fellow governors in the ARMM, during a meeting in Mandaluyong City last week, have all been rooting for him to become one of the OICs. This however could not be independently verified as of this posting. According to Mangudadatu, the five-member screening committee will be composed of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, presidential adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas, a representative from civil society, and a representative from the ARMM. Mangudadatu said that aside from him, there are 33 other nominees who are being considered to become ARMM OIC. The list includes his uncle, Pax Mangudadatu, a former lawmaker from Sultan Kudarat; and former party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman. A suspect in the massacre, Zaldy Ampatuan, headed the ARMM until he was suspended in late 2009 following the carnage that left 57 people dead. The Ampatuans are political rivals of the Mangudadatus. The massacre was allegedly carried out to prevent Mangudadatu from running for Maguindanao governor in the May 2010 elections. — ELR/VS, GMA News