More Muslim groups back ARMM poll postponement

MANILA, Philippines - Another Muslim group supported yesterday the decision of Congress and President Aquino to postpone the Aug. 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Ishalk Delmonte, national chairman of the party-list group Anak Mindanao (AMIN), and Norhaya Macusang, its head for the National Capital Region, said the postponement would pave the way for the implementation of genuine reforms in the autonomous region.

“The most important job to be done now is the implementation of reforms needed to make ARMM observe good governance principles in the future so that taxpayers’ money is spent for the people’s welfare and is not wasted by corrupt officials,” they said.

They said the region has substantial resources, which, if used or spent properly in the past, would have translated into the economic development of the five provinces comprising the ARMM.

“Sadly, none of that is evident in the region, which continues to have the highest poverty incidence in the country,” they added.

The two AMIN officers said the 21-month postponement window would enable the Commission on Elections and the administration to purify the electoral process in the region.

The use of guns, goons and gold, and vote rigging should not be allowed to happen again, they said.

They said President Aquino’s choices in the appointment of ARMM officers-in-charge would play a major role in attaining the good governance and electoral reform goals that have to be achieved between now and the combined congressional-local-ARMM elections in May 2013.

They urged the President to appoint OICs “who are reform-oriented and who do not belong to the clan of traditional politicians and warlords.”

AMIN was represented in the last Congress by Mujiv Hataman of Basilan.

Hataman had filed his candidacy for ARMM governor before Congress postponed the region’s Aug. 8 vote.

Aquino was reportedly inclined to support Hataman’s candidacy. The two were colleagues in the opposition bloc when they were congressmen and both supported the impeachment of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Hataman had already secured the support of administration allies in the region.

Last Wednesday, leaders of the Bangsamoro Solidarity Movement, Mindanao Peace Solidarity, Bangsamoro Lawyers Network, Youth Geared for Endeavors, and Islamic Movement for Electoral Reform supported the postponement of the ARMM elections.