Govt opens ARMM OIC positions to applicants

Government has opened to applicants at least 26 positions for officers-in-charge in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao until elections are held in the region in 2013. Interested individuals should submit their applications for OIC not later than 5 p.m. of August 26 to the Office of the DILG's Assistant Secretary for Mindanao Affairs and Special Concerns, said Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. The office is located at the 9th floor of AFGC II Building along EDSA corner Mapagmahal Street in Diliman, Quezon City. Robredo is a member of the screening committee tasked to come up with a shortlist of nominees for the ARMM OIC posts. With him are Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, presidential adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas, a representative from civil society, and an ARMM representative. Maguidanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu earlier said ARMM governors have agreed to send Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan as the ARMM representative to the screening committee. The available positions are OIC regional governor, OIC regional vice governor, and 24 OIC members of the regional legislative assembly. Robredo said all applicants would be under scrutiny of the screening panel, which "would dig into their educational preparation, experience, performance, accomplishments, and reputation for honesty, integrity, incorruptibility, irreproachable conduct and fidelity to sound moral and ethical standards." The names of applicants will first have to be published in newspapers by August 31 before the screening committee starts further reviewing their qualifications from September 1 to 11. The selection body will then pick and rank three nominees for each of the 26 posts before endorsing the names to Congress and finally seeking President Benigno Aquino III's approval. Robredo stressed that appointed OICs have 21 months to "prove their worth", or risk losing their posts "if they fell short of what is expected of them." "I am [also] proposing that each of them will be barred from running any elective post in the ARMM come the May 2013 midterm elections," Robredo added. — VS, GMA News