ARMM Poll Postponed as House Concurs with Senate

MANILA, Philippines (June 8 2011) - There shall be no elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on August 8 as it was effectively postponed when the of House of Representatives voted last night to accept Senate amendments to its postponement bill.

In moving to accept the Senate-proposed amendments, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said this would make a bicameral conference superfluous and thus shorten the process of enacting the bill.

“Since this bill has been certified as urgent by President Aquino, the need for a bicameral conference has to be eliminated because we are adjourning our first regular session tomorrow,” Gonzales said.

He said if a conference were convened, the process of enacting the bill might not be completed before today’s scheduled adjournment.

Gonzales later told reporters that the House would now print copies of the postponement measure and the bill on the extension of discounted power rates so these could be sent to the President within the week.

“We expect the President to sign these measures at the latest next week,” he said.

Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, however, questioned Gonzales’ proposal to do away with a bicameral conference.

Lagman argued that some of the changes senators proposed were “very major amendments” that altered the House-approved bill.

He said the most important alteration the Senate made was the deletion of the provision that bans officers-in-charge from running in the ARMM election that would be synchronized with the May 2013 congressional and local officials.

“This was a safeguard provided in the House version to prevent the President from anointing the next ARMM officials,” Lagman pointed out.

Lagman also criticized another Senate amendment which calls for the creation of a “steering committee” that would recommend to the President nominees for OIC posts in the autonomous region.

He said though the amendment states that the committee is to be formed by the President, “it doesn’t say how many members would be appointed.”

“This committee will just be a rubberstamp of Malacañang,” he said.

The Senate earlier voted on the proposal introduced by Sen. Franklin Drilon seeking to postpone the ARMM elections.

Drilon said the approval of the House would no longer need a bicameral committee hearing, which will automatically send the measure for signature of the President.

The bill was certified as urgent by Aquino because of the limited time left before the scheduled elections in the ARMM.

It was initially thought that the Senate and the House would have to hold a bicameral conference committee hearing last night because of some provisions that were different in the Senate version of the bill.

One particular difference in the two versions was that the Senate removed the provision that disqualified the officers-in-charge to be appointed by the President to the ARMM from seeking an elective position in the region when the elections are held in May 2013.

Drilon explained that the provision was deleted because “allowing the OICs to run in the election is a matter of law because the Organic Act imposes qualifications.”

The Senate vote on the proposal last Monday was far from close as had been expected with 13 in favor and only seven voting against.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, despite being a member of the opposition Nacionalista Party (NP), yesterday said the sheer number of votes in favor reflected the collective wish to call off the elections to allow reforms in the region.

Cayetano said she decided to favor the administration vote in postponing the ARMM polls.

“I choose to support this administration’s desire to institute reforms in the region where poverty is the rule rather than the exception,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano was among the 13 senators who voted on Monday in favor of postponing the ARMM polls on Aug. 8.

The others were Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, senators Drilon, Jinggoy Estrada, Vicente Sotto III, Teofisto Guingona III, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manuel Lapid Jr., Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV.

A lot of the votes in favor were expected, including those coming from Liberal Party senators Drilon, Recto, Pangilinan and Guingona who were given marching orders by President Aquino to lobby for the passage of the bill.

Two other senators, Lacson and Trillanes who are perceived as allies, were met by Aquino early last month to get their support for Senate Bill 2756.

Drilon, principal author and sponsor of the measure, said he was optimistic about getting the majority votes.

His optimism was also buoyed by the powers of persuasion of Aquino who actively lobbied for the passage of the bill.

Cayetano did cross party affiliation when she voted in favor of the postponement. The NP has among its members Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the chairman of the committee on local government, who was tasked to go over the bill and eventually recommended against the postponement of the ARMM polls.

NP president Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., his running mate in the 2010 national elections Loren Legarda, and NP stalwart Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano were conspicuously absent during the voting Monday.

On the other hand, those who voted against the bill were Marcos, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joker Arroyo, Francis Escudero, Ramon Revilla Jr., Edgardo Angara and Sergio Osmeña III.

Escudero and Osmeña are both allies of the President, with the former spearheading the Aquino-Jejomar Binay tandem in the 2010 elections and the latter running as a guest candidate of LP.

But it was not the LP alone that worked to influence the vote in favor of the bill.

Santiago made a good case in favor of postponement and synchronization of the ARMM polls with the 2013 midterm elections.

Santiago argued that both synchronization and local autonomy are in pari materia, meaning both issues cover the same subject and are therefore equal in weight.

Santiago’s arguments apparently carried some weight during the debates, with Drilon repeatedly citing her manifestation in his defense of the bill.

But for those who voted against, their disappointment was clear and resounding.

Escudero said that the passage of the bill was a declaration by the Senate that “we do not want to hear the voice of the people.”

Arroyo lamented that the Senate majority won the vote but “we have lost the Muslim vote.”

Angara said the bill did not postpone but rather, cancelled the elections because appointees would fill the elective positions.

Zubiri said that he was grieving the death of the rights of the people in the ARMM because their right to suffrage was trampled on with the passage of the bill.

Marcos added that it would now be up to the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the bill.

Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday welcomed the decision of the Senate to postpone the ARMM polls, vowing to institute much-needed reforms in the region.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the passage of the postponement bill is a great step “toward systemic reform in the region.”

What lies “beyond” the Senate decision was that “the vote also signifies the willingness of our leaders to join the people in the straight and righteous path toward genuine, meaningful change,” Lacierda said.

“The administration has always maintained that only through synchronization can true democracy - unencumbered by patronage and transactional politics - be felt in the ARMM where the people have been denied a chance at a dignified life,” Lacierda added.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the approval of the measure would allow the government to introduce initiatives for the people’s benefits in the region.

“We can now proceed to the equally more difficult task of making ARMM work for its constituency, while the 20 months window is a little tight, it provides an opportunity to introduce initiatives whose benefits will be long lasting,” Robredo said.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said the postponement of the elections in the ARMM will facilitate the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

She said the synchronization of the ARMM elections with national and local elections in 2013 would allow all concerned parties to focus on and build common ground in addressing substantial issues on the negotiating table.

Some from the MNLF also welcomed the postponement of the ARMM elections.

Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the most dominant of four factions in the Moro National Liberation Front, said the resetting of the regional elections to 2013 would allow Congress enough time to improve the ARMM charter to enhance its political, fiscal and administrative scopes.

The approved bill resetting to 2013 the ARMM polls also empowers Aquino to appoint caretakers for the region.

The regional caretakers – governor, vice governor and 24 members of the ARMM Regional Assembly – will assume after the terms of the region’s incumbent officials end on Sept. 30.