Sharp Senate debate over ARMM polls seen

MANILA, Philippines—An intense debate over the bill deferring the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to 2013 looms in the Senate as the committee on local governments is expected to recommend that the elections be held as scheduled.

President Benigno Aquino’s allies, however, are confident they could muster enough votes to approve Senate Bill 2756 and House Bill 4146 before Congress adjourns sine die on June 8 and set aside an adverse committee report.

“Oh, yes, I expect a debate in the Senate,” Senator Joker Arroyo said in an interview. “Whether it could be voted upon or finished, it depends on the length and intensity of the debates.”

Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who had indicated that the local government committee which he chairs would submit an adverse report on the bill, will find himself ranged against bill author Senator Franklin Drilon and “a good number of senators” backing the bill.

Marcos had said that the bill’s “assault” on the ARMM people’s right to suffrage and disregard of the region’s autonomy alarmed the committee. He said the bill scraps the elections to allow Malacañang “to just simply handpick their next leaders.”

Since Aquino had certified the bill as urgent at the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is expected to support the bill.

Marcos’ submission of an adverse committee report is anticipated by some of his colleagues, and is expected to cause some “complication” in the legislative process: the archiving of the bill.

That’s why the Senate is set to hold a caucus on Monday to discuss how to approach this, keeping in mind the June 8 adjournment, said Drilon, who is Aquino’s partymate along with Senators Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto and Teofisto Guingona III.

According to Drilon, there are two options available under the Senate rules.

If the bill is archived, five senators could move for its recall from the archives and have it calendared for ordinary business, paving the way for a debate and vote.

Or, instead of letting it go straight to the archives, the bill could be placed on the calendar of ordinary business, be sponsored and submitted for amendments, whence a senator could then move to have the committee report amended in favor of approving the original bill.

Either way, Drilon said they had the numbers to approve it.

“It has a reasonable chance of passing,” he said in an interview. “I’m reasonably optimistic that we have the votes to pass it.”

Even Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III conceded that “a good number” of the 23 senators were supporting the administration measure postponing the regional elections and synchronizing them with the 2013 mid-term national elections.

“If they have the majority, the committee report can be overturned,” said Sotto, who indicated that he had to read the committee report first before making up his mind on the matter.

Marcos is set to submit the committee report on Tuesday afternoon after holding a final hearing on the measure that day, giving senators four session days to tackle it.

Drilon said senators should agree during the caucus to “limit the debate” and put the bill to a vote as  there was still ample time for the Commission on Elections to stop its preparations even if the bill were approved on June 8.

“If there will be some senators who will insist on a lengthy debate, we can’t do anything about it. But there must be a consensus to shorten the debate, and let’s vote on it,’’ he said.