ARMM plebiscite ruled out

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday rejected proposals to hold a plebiscite in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to settle the issue on whether or not to postpone the elections scheduled there in August.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the poll body is not keen on holding a plebiscite since it would only further delay the decision to proceed with the Aug. 8 elections or not.       

“If we hold a plebiscite, it will be us, the Comelec, who will suffer most since the decision would be delayed further,” he said.

Brillantes said that if plebiscite is conducted as proposed by Sen. Francis Escudero, it could not be done until April or May.

“We will have no more time to prepare for the ARMM elections by then since it will just be about two months away from the Aug. 8 elections,” he said.

If Congress insists on the plebiscite and the result is to push through with the ARMM polls, Brillantes said they should just forget having automated elections in the region.

“We will be forced to go manual if they insist on the plebiscite. With that amount of time, only preparations for manual elections can be done,” he said.

Escudero earlier suggested the conduct of a plebiscite to allow the ARMM residents to decide themselves the fate of their elections.

The Palace has certified as urgent House Bill 4146 seeking to postpone the ARMM elections to put reforms in place in the region, and synchronize the polls with the 2013 political exercise.

But several sectors, including election watchdogs, wanted the regional polls to push through.

At the House of Representatives, more non-Muslim congressmen joined their Muslim colleagues yesterday in opposing the proposed postponement of the ARMM polls.

The latest to express their opposition to HB 4146 are Reps. Teddy Casino of Bayan Muna and Amado Bagatsing of Manila.

“Postponing the elections in the ARMM and allowing President Aquino to appoint caretakers for the next two years is a highly volatile move that would further aggravate deep divisions among our Muslim brothers and sisters in the south,” Casino said.

For his part, Bagatsing said that even if the claim of those advocating the postponement that the regional government is a failure is true, “the solution is not to deprive Muslim Filipinos of their only weapon for peaceful change, which is to cast their votes for those they want to be their leaders.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Franklin Drilon yesterday criticized Sen. Joker Arroyo who had slammed the Palace-backed poll deferment. 

Drilon said the ARMM polls were reset nine times during the Arroyo administration and Joker did not raise any protest. – With Jess Diaz, Christina Mendez and Delon Porcalla