Palace defends appointment

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday defended President Aquino’s appointment of former Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman as officer-in-charge (OIC) governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, saying there are no more legal impediments to his designation.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that since the temporary restraining order (TRO) that the Supreme Court (SC) issued has been lifted after it upheld Aquino’s power to appoint OICs, designating officials in the region is no longer a problem.

“Our understanding of the decision was that there were no legal obstacles already since the decision lifted the TRO,” Lacierda said, citing the judicial courtesy being asked by SC spokesman Midas Marquez to defer the appointment until the ruling becomes final.

“If you remember the statement Marquez said that there are no obstacles anymore to the appointment, only that he requested that courtesy be extended to the judiciary because there’s a pending motion for reconsideration,” La-cierda said.

But the “interpretation” of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, a former veteran election lawyer, according to him, “is that there are no longer any legal obstacles to appoint Gov. Hataman.”

But election lawyer Romulo Macalintal – De Lima’s former colleague – questioned Hataman’s appointment before the SC, asking the tribunal to nullify it while his appeal on the Oct. 18 pro-Hataman ruling has not been resolved with finality.

Macalintal specifically asked the SC to issue a clarificatory resolution declaring “still effective and existing” the provision in the TRO last Sept. 13 allowing incumbent ARMM elective officials to continue performing their functions.

“The TRO, being part of the said decision, is likewise the subject of the motions for reconsideration filed by the petitioners aggrieved by the said decision of the Supreme Court, hence, the said TRO is still valid and existing since its lifting, like the main decision, is not yet final and executory in view of the timely filing of the said motions for reconsideration,” he said.

Other petitioners in the case – former Tawi-Tawi governor Almarim Centi Tillah, professor Datu Casan Conding and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban – also filed a similar pleading the other day.