MANILA, Philippines?Malacañang is backing the proposal of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to hold voting in the violence-wracked Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) ahead of the May 10 balloting.

?For the sake of the overall conduct of a peaceful election, Malacañang will go along with it if that is the sense, especially of the Comelec,? Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a news briefing.

In a resolution on Tuesday, the Comelec urged Congress to fast-track the passage of legislation allowing advance voting in the ARMM.

Officials said a new law would enable the Comelec to set a date ahead of the scheduled presidential and local elections in the ARMM, which comprises Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Marawi City.

There are three pending bills in Congress seeking to eliminate fraud and violence during elections. The Comelec also has received a petition from private parties proposing the holding of elections in the autonomous region on April 12, instead of May 10.

Ermita said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would certify as urgent the bills setting early elections in ARMM if recommended by lawmakers.

?We will prepare the necessary document for the President to sign, so both Houses of Congress will receive it on time,? he said.

Comelec prepared

Ermita said he believed that the Comelec was ready to hold the elections in the ARMM even if these were held a month ahead of the scheduled May balloting.

?We are made to understand by the Comelec that yes the system is in place. We just have to await developments. But as it is now, our information is everything is go for an automated election. But my line has always been ?many things can happen between now and then,?? he said.

Ermita also said Ms Arroyo had yet to constitute the independent commission created to oversee the dismantling of political clan-dominated private armies.

?We are submitting to the President the names of those who will compose it. It?s very hard for us to just organize it, then it will turn out that the people we have in mind are not available for their own reasons,? he said.

According to Ermita, four of the potential eight members had confirmed their availability to be part of the commission.

Maguindanao, as well as Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Samar, Masbate, Nueva Ecija and Abra, are in the initial list of election ?hot spots? because of the presence private armies, according to Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa.

No enabling law needed

But Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Wednesday the Comelec could advance elections in the ARMM even without an enabling law under the Omnibus Election Code.

?If they can postpone elections, why can?t they advance it,? he told reporters, adding that the Comelec was simply being ?over careful.?

Pimentel said that Congress could have a difficulty approving an enabling law, pointing out time constraints. When Congress resumes its session on Jan. 18, he said, it will only have nine working days. The campaign for national elections begins on Feb. 9.
?It?s going to be a tight schedule,? he said, unless Ms Arroyo certified the measure as urgent. He said the Senate and the House should also work together to pass the enabling law.

But Sen. Richard Gordon, who authored the Early Voting Bill, disagreed with Pimentel?s views. ?The Constitution is very clear on the date of the elections, unless authorized by law,? Gordon said in a phone interview.