Senate to vote on ARMM polls on Monday

Lets’s vote on it Monday, or hold a special session.

Senator Franklin Drilon said yesterday he would move for a vote on the bills postponing the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to May 2013 on Monday night.

Otherwise it might be too late to meet in a bicameral conference to reconcile Senate and House bills on the matter since Congress is adjourning on Wednesday, Drilon said.

If the bicameral conference committee is unable to harmonize the two bills before adjournment, President Aquino may have to call a special session to approve the bill, he said.

“I will ask for a vote on Monday evening. I will recommend to Senate President Enrile that we decide on it so we will know whether the election will be postponed or canceled. We can’t let this hang,” said Drilon, author of the senate bill seeking to synchronize ARMM elections with national and local polls in 2013.

Drilon said the matter to be voted on was simple: Whether Republic Act 9333, which sets the date of the ARMM elections, is constitutional.

He argued that RA 9333 provides for a desynchronized election.