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SC still won’t let PNoy appoint ARMM OICs


Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) officials can retain their positions in holdover capacity because the Supreme Court has not yet lifted an order that restrained the Aquino administration from appointing regional officers-in-charge. The three-year term ARMM officials will lapse on Friday, Sept. 30. The temporary restraining order (TRO) the Supreme Court issued earlier this month remains in effect, SC spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said in a text message. It prevented the Aquino administration from implementing Republic Act. No 10153, the law synchronizing the 2011 ARMM elections with the 2013 mid-term elections. The TRO also barred President Aquino from appointing OICs to replace ARMM's regional governor, vice-governor, and Legislative Assembly members. "Considering that the consolidated cases are still pending, the TRO remains in force. The incumbent ARMM officials shall continue their positions in a holdover capacity until the Court lifts the TRO or is able to decide on these cases on the merits," said Marquez. The cases referred to the seven petitions that questioned the legality of RA 10153 before the high court. The SC retained the TRO despite the argument of government lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General that allowing incumbent ARMM officials to keep their posts violates the 1987 Constitution which limits to three years the term of local officials. The OSG represented the respondents in the consolidated cases on the legality of RA 10153. The respondents were Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa Jr., the Senate, the Commission on Elections and its chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. Government lawyers cited the jurisprudence in the case of Osmeña versus Comelec, where the SC ruled that local officials staying in office beyond their fixed constitutional term is unconstitutional. "As pointed out by this Honorable Court in Osmeña, the term of local elective officials, except barangay officials, is fixed by Section 8, Article X of the 1987 Constitution at three years. Any law or act authorizing the extension of the term of said officials beyond three years by providing that said officials shall holdover until their successors are elected, is therefore unconstitutional," the OSG's appeal said. Marquez said the circumstances in the Osmeña case are different from the case concerning the legality of RA 10153. — VS, GMA News

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