Move to defer ARMM polls questioned in SC

Manila, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) was asked yesterday to order the government to hold the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) this year and enjoin Congress from postponing it to 2013.

In two petitions, barangay officials and concerned voters in the ARMM questioned before the SC the legality of House Bill 4146 and Senate Bill 2756, which both intend to synchronize the ARMM polls with the mid-term national elections in 2013.

Petitioners Datu Michael Kida of the Maguindanao Federation of Autonomous Irrigators Association and lawyer Alex Macalawi of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Marawi City chapter sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order enjoining Congress from further proceeding with both proposed laws.

They argued that both bills are unconstitutional as they violate Republic Act 9054 (Organic Act of ARMM) that sets the regional polls on the second Monday of September this year.

In his group’s petition, Kida argued that the proposed postponement also “violates the principles of a democratic and republican state mandated by the Constitution, and the right of Muslims in the region to local autonomy.”

Kida’s group further argued that the proposed postponement “would deny the voters in ARMM their right to elect their officials for a period of two years, in violation of their right to equal protection of the law, which guarantees the right of all qualified citizens to participate in local government on an equal footing.”

Macalawi’s group, on the other hand, argued in its 35-page petition that HB 4146, if enacted to law, would be the eighth postponement of ARMM polls in the autonomous region’s 21 years of existence.

The group said Congress “should be enjoined from this corrupt customary practice of repeatedly postponing ARMM polls and to stick to the prescribed regular ARMM elections provided in RA 9054.”

But the two groups differ as to when exactly the ARMM polls should be held. The first one believes that the elections should be held on Sept. 12 pursuant to RA 9054, while the second group wants the polls conducted on Aug. 8 as set in RA 9333.

The Aquino administration supports the postponement of the ARMM polls, a move backed by many local officials in the autonomous region.