“(T)he ARMM Organic Act . . . is ‘more than an ordinary statue because it enjoys affirmation by plebiscite.’”
by Ducky Paredes
Despite efforts to prevent it, on Monday, August 11, 2008, around 1.7 million registered voters from the six provinces of Basilan (excluding Isabela City), Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and the newly-created province of Shariff Kabunsuan, comprising the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), will be electing a new Regional Governor, a new Regional Vice-Governor, and new Regional Legislative District Assemblymen.
This is as it should be.
The reason given for postponing the elections was the possibility of a new agreement between the MILF and the government that would be the beginning for changing the nature of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) by creating a much larger Muslim Homeland.
Calling off the elections just because a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was ready to be signed in Kuala Lumpur between the MILF and the government was, at best, an over-reaction to something still so ephemeral. Before such a thing could happen, according to RA 9054 that created the ARMM, “any amendment to or revision shall become effective only when approved by a majority of the vote in a plebiscite called for the purpose.”
To have delayed the election with just a few days to go was an impracticality. Yet, even yesterday, the word from Malacanang was that the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) itself was asking for the postponement, as if the OIC would care how we ran thing in our own country.
Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a constitutional expert says of the ARMM Organic Act that it is “more than an ordinary statue because it enjoys affirmation by plebiscite.”
Also, if the elections had been postponed, the continuance in office of the present ARMM officials, whose fixed term ends on September 30, 2008, would be open to legal question after on October 1. In a case where barangay officials sought to postpone election in 1997, the Court ruled that the petition “is a subtle and self-serving proposition to lengthen governance without a mandate.: The same thing can be said of ARMM officials serving extended (not voted on ) terms.
Whether they are treated as hold-over officials or others are appointed in their stead, they would be political appointees beholden to their appointing power.
Another point that must be made is that the ARMM officials have not been given any roles, have not been consulted nor informed of what has been going on in the peace talks between the MILF and the GRP (Government, Republic of the Philippines), They have been ignored; then, they are asked to make a sacrifice by holding off elections,
The ARMM officials have been elected by the people. Compare them to the MILF who want the postponement; the MILF are not even registered voters! Millions of pesos have already been spent by the Comelec in preparing for these elections; so have the candidates spent a lot during their campaigns. The Comelec even purchased new automatic counting machines just for the elections on Monday.
There was just never any good reason for postponing these elections.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court has put a damper on the MOA signing in Kuala Lumpur by issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the government’s signing anything. The SC will hear the arguments of the government and those opposing the MOA beginning on August 15, 2008.
By that time, we would already have known who the new ARMM officials are!
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There is talk of the possibility of election violence and even the MILF officers say that they may not be able to control some of their people if they will go out of their way to use violence to disrupt these elections. That statement makes me wonder how our government can talk to people like these and expect them to properly run a Muslim Homeland.
The problem with the government’s actions in Mindanao is that the President and her crew are doing what they do for political show and to gain adherents who will help them when they run for their national positions. Politics should never be a consideration when one is talking of peace on a permanent basis. Sacrifices must be made but these sacrifices should be made by the leaders and not by the people as a result of a botched-up and bad peace agreement, which is where the creation of a Muslim Homeland seems to be headed.
The MILF has not shown any capacity for governance. Its one capability is to sow terror among the inhabitants of Malacanang Palace. What sort of Homeland could possibly emerge from talks between a bully and a government that gives up territory and sovereignty so easily?
Luckily, this will have to be submitted to a plebiscite and the plebiscite should not only be among the Muslims who will inhabit that homeland but should also include the rest of us who would be giving up part of our national territory for the new homeland.
It is my belief that even among the Muslims of Mindanao, many will opt for their city or province not to join the new homeland.
Certainly, residents of the cities of Iligan and Zamboanga will not allow any part of their cities to become part of the new Muslim Homeland; I would also think that the town of Rizal in Palawan and its adjacent towns would also vote themselves out of the new area.
After all, who wants to place himself where he would be at the mercy of the MILF and its clearly undisciplined and unruly gunmen? Would having them around translate into peace – as in a peaceful life for law-abiding citizens?
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hvp 08.05.08)
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