Name treasurer for Maguindanao del Norte, BLGF told

COTABATO CITY—The Supreme Court’s Second Division has ordered the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), an agency under the Department of Finance (DOF), to act with speed on the request of the Maguindanao del Norte government for the appointment of its provincial treasurer.

In a decision promulgated on June 26 but released only on Tuesday, the high court granted the petition for mandamus filed by then acting Gov. Bai Fatima Ainee Sinsuat to compel the BLGF to recommend the designation by the DOF secretary of a provincial treasurer so they can disburse funds and deliver social services to the people.

The five-member Second Division set aside the argument of the BLGF that Sinsuat had no legal personality to request the designation of a provincial treasurer as her assumption of office was not covered by the transition mechanism in Republic Act No. 11550, the law which mandated the split of Maguindanao province into two new provinces—Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte.

The law was ratified in a plebiscite in September last year. By October, then Maguindanao Gov. Bai Mariam Mangudadatu and Sinsuat, who was elected vice governor in May, assumed as governors of the two new provinces.

The BLGF had recognized Mangudadatu’s assumption and had recommended the designation of a provincial treasurer for the new province of Maguindanao del Sur.

But not in the case of Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte as the transitory provisions of RA 11550, particularly Section 50, was silent on who should take the leadership of the other new province.

This prompted Sinsuat’s request to the BLGF, which was sent on Dec. 20 last year.

Leadership question

“Sinsuat, as duly elected vice governor of the Province of Maguindanao, and (Datu Sharifudin Tucao) Mastura, as next ranking member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the Province of Maguindanao, validly assumed office as governor and vice governor, respectively, of the Province of Maguindanao del Norte, but only in acting capacities until elections for the permanent officials to the said positions shall have been held,” the high court ruled.

The recent ruling followed the issuance by the court of a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction for the BLGF to process Sinsuat’s request. In the recent ruling, the writ was made permanent.

The Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had argued that if the plebiscite was held prior to the 2022 elections, the assumption of office of both Mangudadatu and Sinsuat would have been compliant with the law’s transitory provisions.

But the high court said: “Albeit the plebiscite was conducted only after the May 2022 National and Local Elections, this does not invalidate Section 50. As one of the Transitory Provisions, Section 50 is intended to operate upon the effectivity of the law. Indeed, it would be in keeping with the spirit and intention of the law to give life to its transitory provisions for we cannot simply allow the already existing Provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur to be without a set of officials or without any funds for their operations.”

It is not yet known how the ruling would affect the current leadership setup in Maguindanao del Norte with Abdulraof Macacua, the military chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, at the helm as acting governor, upon the appointment of President Marcos in April.

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