Aquino swears in OICs in ARMM

President Aquino on Monday swore in former Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman and Bainon G. Karon, a known Moro women’s rights advocate, as caretaker governor and vice governor, respectively, of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Palace officials lauded Hataman’s appointment, saying the former lawmaker and friend of the President’s, was the best man to head the most impoverished but highly resource areas in five provinces of Mindanao in the next 15 months.

“He knows the politics and the people in ARMM. We believe he could be a person who can advance the reforms in the ARMM,” Mr. Aquino’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said of Hataman.

Sought for comment, Maguindanao Rep. Bai Sandra Sema (LP) said that while she could not speak for the administration, it would be more appropriate to wait for the final decision of the Supreme Court, where a motion for reconsideration (MR) is pending on the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 10153.

That law empowers the President to appoint ARMM caretaker officials as it postponed the regional polls scheduled in August this year for May 2013 to pave the way for the government to institute reforms in the region in preparation for the next elections there.

The President has instructed Hataman “to make sure that the reforms (in the ARMM) are implemented,” Lacierda said.

“The reason why we went for a synchronization and also, in particular, the ARMM is to make sure that all excesses of the past, all the corruption be eradicated and make sure that ARMM—as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, by the solons who drafted the Organic Act—would really push to advance the welfare of the people from the ARMM,” he said.

Moreover, Lacierda said Hataman had agreed to a Palace requirement that any OICs to be appointed by the President for the region would no longer run for office in the next ARMM elections set for May 2013.

He said Hataman’s appointment was recommended by a search committee led by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Earlier, Robredo had said “no law is violated” by Hataman’s and Karon’s appointment and assumption to office, as per legal opinion given on the issue by the President’s legal advisers.

Last week, Cabinet members of the ARMM gathered around acting Gov. Ansarudin Adiong and came up with a common stand to comply with a turnover but only if there was “a final ruling by the Supreme Court on pending MR” filed by groups opposed to RA 10153.

Earlier, the high tribunal issued a temporary restraining order to keep officials in their posts despite the scheduled expiration of their terms on Sept. 30—“until the court rules with finality,” according to the court’s spokesperson, Midas Marquez.

Baratucal Caudang, a Cabinet member in the education department, said the assumption of Hataman should be welcomed but only if this was done through the legal process. “There seems to be a legal impediment that the Supreme Court has yet to settle before the appointees can take over,” said Caudang, former regional solicitor general.

“Rushing the issue during the coming holiday break for a takeover appears suspicious,” Caudang said,

“I still believe in the independence of equal branches of government from the executive down to the legislative and judicial bodies; each has its own role and function to perform as mandated by the Constitution.”

Ali Macabalang, ARMM information bureau chief, described Robredo’s announcement of the OIC appointments as premature and courting political upheaval.

He said that the region had formed a transition team, which required all regional departments, bureaus and other offices to submit inventories of all properties, assets and liabilities to ensure proper turnover. Reports from Christine O. Avendaño in Manila and Nash B. Maulana and Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao, in Cotabato City