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Ex-Sen. Pimentel may challenge SC ruling on ARMM poll postponement


Former Sen. Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. on Thursday said he will likely challenge the decision of the Supreme Court declaring as constitutional the law postponing the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and synchronizing it with the midterm elections in 2013. Pimentel, a former Senate president who is the principal author of the ARMM Organic Law, said that he has yet to receive a copy of the SC decision but that he is "inclined" to challenge the ruling after consulting with other petitioners. "Basically we believe that the Supreme Court might have nearly overlooked to put it diplomatically the fact that the Constitution, local government code, as well as the autonomous regin act for ARMM guarrantees the right of the Muslm people to elect their own leaders," he said during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday. Pimentel is the father of Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III. The younger Pimentel assumed his post only in August following his proclamation by the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the resignation of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri. On Tuesday, the SC justices voted 8-7 in favor of Republic Act No. 10153, or the law deferring the ARMM polls to 2013. The ARMM elections were originally scheduled last August 8. Pimentel, one of the petitioners in the case, had earlier said that postponing the ARMM elections and synchronizing it with the 2013 midterm elections would be encroaching on the autonomy of the region. "The basic argument is that the postponement violates the character and soul of the autonomy that has been granted to the autonomous region," he said. He likewise questioned the President's right to appoint officers-in-charge for the 26 vacant seats in the region. "I think there was some underhanded attempt on the part of the administration when it enacted RA 10153 cancelling the elections and then giving President the power to appoint OICs," he said on Thursday. — RSJ, GMA News

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