Aquino signs Armm poll postponement

July 1,2011
PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Thursday signed into law the measure postponing the August elections in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) and synchronizing it with the national mid-term elections on May 2013.
Shortly after the ceremonial signing in Malacañang, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman sought the law’s nullification before the Supreme Court, saying it’s “unconstitutional and invalid”.
Being one of the Aquino administration’s priority measures, the election postponement will allow reforms to be implemented in the Armm, one of the country’s poorest regions, the President said.
We will put end to the reign of political clans who are the roots of dishonest elections…We will dismantle private armies and we will clean the voter’s list,” he said.
“We will not let irregularities and graft and corruption to continue in the region… We will not stop until we improved the lives of the people in impoverished region,” he added.
The President also vowed to eradicate ghost schools, teachers, health centers, and nurses in the region.
Republic Act (RA) 10153 synchronizes the elections in Armm with the national mid-term elections in 2013. It also gives Aquino the power to appoint officers-in-charge (OIC) in the Armm government tasked to implement reforms until new set of officials are elected in May.
The President’s spokesperson Abigail Valte was not surprised when Lagman immediately filed petition challenging the new law.
She said Malacanang is ready to defend the ruling before the Supreme Court.
“As we have said in the past, we are confident that we can defend the law when it is called for by the Supreme Court,” she said.
Lagman’s petition is still “premature” since the new law is not yet effective and will only take effect 15 days after publication in general circulation.
Lagman filed a petition before the SC questioning the constitutionality of the enactment. The opposition lawmaker said RA 10153 was invalid and all of the constitutional and statutory safeguards for autonomy in Armm have been violated and derogated by the new law.
Aquino said the process in selecting OICs in the region is still being drafted by the Office of the Executive Secretary.
He noted the OICs should share the same vision with the government and focused to deliver basic services due the people in Armm.
He added that the OICs should enter into a covenant not to run on the May 2013 elections.
Asked to comment on the bid of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesperson Eid Kabalu to become Armm OIC, the President deferred the matter to Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Teresita Deles.
The ceremonial signing of the Armm bill was witnessed by the bill’s principal authors including Senator Franklin Drilon and Maguindanao and Cotabato City Representative Bai Sandra Sema.
Several co-authors of the bill such as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, House Speaker Sonny Belmonte, Teofisto Guingona III, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto, Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya, among others, were also present.
Armm polls postponement in SC’s hands
As promised, the House opposition has brought the legal battle over the postponement of the elections in the Armm to the Supreme Court just minutes after the proposed legislation was signed by President Benigno Aquino III.
House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition seeking the nullification of RA 10153 for allegedly being unconstitutional and invalid.
Aside from postponing the Armm elections originally scheduled in August, RA 10153 also authorizes the President to appoint officers-in-charge for the regional governor, vice-governor and members of the Regional Assembly pending synchronization of the polls with the mid-term elections in May 2013.
Lagman’s petition identified respondents as Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., who is asked to refrain from enforcing the measure, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which is being sought to resume preparations for the holding of the elections this August so as not to make the petition moot.
The Minority Leader argued that Congress failed to garner a two-thirds vote, which is required by the Organic Act to make valid the amendments introduced in RA 10153.
The RA 9053 or the Organic Act for Armm states that it “may be re-amended or revised by the Congress of the Philippines upon a vote of two-thirds of the Members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate voting separately”.
Another “fatal infirmity” cited in Lagman’s petition is the failure to provide for the holding of the mandatory plebiscite for the ratification of the amendments contained in RA 10153.
RA 10153 will also deny the right of suffrage to Armm for voters for a long period in violation of the safeguard on periodic and popular elections, he added.
Lagman earlier accused President Aquino of deliberately stalling the signing of the Armm elections postponement measure to prevent the SC from resolving petitions to be filed questioning such legislation.
The lawmaker stressed that the postponement of the Armm elections was “based on partisan and contrived motives, and not for patriotic and judicious reasons”. (Jill Beltran/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/06/30/aquino-signs-armm-poll-postponement-164256

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