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Bill
postponing ARMM election shelved, then retrieved
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from
NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.13
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After the Senate Committee on Local
Government, upon holding several consultations with stakeholders,
concluded that the bills seeking to postpone the ARMM elections
violate ARMM's autonomy, and after the Committee had submitted its
report that was unfavorable to the proposed bills, the Senate,
during its plenary on May 31, sent the bills to its archives.
However, just a few minutes after the shelving, several Senators,
including Committee chair Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., moved that the
bills be revived and placed on the Senate calendar to be deliberated
on further.
Section 30 of the Senate Rules indicate that "if the reports
submitted are unfavorable, they shall be transmitted to the Archives
of the Senate together with the matters to which they refer, unless
five (5) senators shall in the following session move for their
inclusion in the Calendar for Ordinary Business, in which case the
President shall so order." It was Marcos who made the manifestation
to revive the bill, supported by Senators Antonio Trillanes IV,
Francis Pangilinan, Teofisto Guingona III, Sergio Osmena, and
Vicente Sotto. Sen. Franklin Drilon, author of one of the bills (SB
2756), immediately sponsored the measure. Marcos said he was not
contradicting his previous stand against the proposed postponement.
"I have belief in the argument and findings we have. It must be
subject to debate on the floor. We must not stifle public debate,"
he said. In a privilege speech during the session, Marcos said the
proposals are "ill-advised and untimely."
Earlier in the day, the Senate committees on Local Government and
Constitutional Amendments held their last
consultation hearing on the ARMM poll postponement,
with Comelec chairperson Sixto Brillantes, Jr. as resource person,
as well as DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, and presidential advisers
Teresita Deles and Ronaldo Llamas. |
| During the
consultation hearing, Senator Francis Escudero wanted to
know from the representatives of the administration whether
the selection committee for the
proposed Officer-In-Charge (OIC) for ARMM have already
come up with their criteria; who will compose the committee;
how open and transparent the selection process would be; and
whether the administration already have a person in mind as
OIC. The resource persons replied that the selection
committee has not been composed; that no person has been
selected so far; and that the guidelines for selection has
already been drafted but not yet finalized. They assured
though that the selection would be inclusive, participative
and transparent. |
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Escudero also pointed out a flaw in the
proposals. Under the two proposals, the term of office of the
regional governor, vice governor and members of the regional
legislative assembly of the ARMM shall last for three years,
beginning September 30 following the day of the election, and ending
at noon of the same date three years after. Escudero said that this
contradicts the purpose (and title) of the bills, which is to
synchronize the election and terms of office of ARMM officials, with
that of national and other local officials, conducted in May of
election years. Robredo responded that they only wanted to
synchronize the elections and not amend the terms of office of the
elected officials, and suggested that the tite of the bills be
amended. Sen. Marcos said that a possible compromise would be to
hold the August election as scheduled, and then later on move to
amend the law to have the ARMM elections synchronized with the
general elections, since the main purpose of the bills is to have
the polls synchronized.
Another contentious issue that arose during the hearing was the
eligibility of the proposed appointed OIC to run as candidate in the
ARMM election in 2013 if synchronized. Section 6 of the proposed
bills prohibits the OIC to run for election. However, during the
hearing, Secretary Llamas stated that the appointee could not be
banned from running in 2013 because that would require amending the
ARMM Organic Act. The senators were concerned that the OIC would use
his time in office to wield influence if this would be the case.
They sought
clarification, saying that the bills they read did not contain this
provision. Malacanang clarified the issue In a statement it released
later in the day, stating:
“'Section 6 of the proposed bill clearly provides that any OICs the
President will appoint to ARMM will be ineligible to run in the
regional elections set for 2013...The Executive insisted on this
provision precisely to avoid granting any undue advantage to the
OICs. In the event that such a provision is not enacted by Congress
in the final version of the bill...'alternative measures' will be
taken by the President to enforce the prohibition. All nominees will
be required to execute a written undertaking not to run in the 2013
elections in the event they are
appointed...Those appointed as OICs can even be made to publicly
sign a covenant that they will not run.”
Senator Miguel Zubiri also expressed his concern that approving the
postponement and allowing the President to appoint an OIC would give
a legislative precedence for future Presidents. "What if the next
administration would not be as reform-minded as this
administration?," Zubiri asked. There is now a race against time to
finally come to a conclusion whether the ARMM polls would be held as
acheduled or postponed. Senate and Congress are scheduled to have
their recess starting on June 10, and Comelec has set an internal
deadline of June 15 to start preparing for a manual ARMM election to
be held two months from now.
Read Senate Bill No. 2756 here:
http://bit.ly/kanaKq
Read House Bill No. 4146 here:
http://bit.ly/iTp139
Read the ARMM Organic Act here:
http://bit.ly/kyp9nI
(Sources: Namfrel, various news sources) |
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