President Aquino urged to name ‘ghost’ busters as OICs in ARMM

COTABATO CITY—A Catholic priest and expert on Mindanao autonomy has offered an unsolicited advice to President Benigno S Aquino III: Appoint “ghost” busters as officers in charge (OICs) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Fr. Eliseo Mercado of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said the OICs must be able to go after “ghost” teachers, employees, projects, schools, roads and bridges, voters and many others working in the region and raking in people’s money.

“No if’s and but’s, the new OIC litmus test is the courage and the political will to put an end to all that are ghosts and mirages that have made the ARMM notorious for graft and electoral fraud,” Mercado said in a statement.

Malacañang is currently selecting people who will lead the ARMM government and the executive branch.

‘Daring policies’

The incumbent elected officials will end their terms on Sept. 30 to pave the way for the assumption of Malacañang appointed officials from OIC governor to Cabinet posts who will serve for at least 20 months.

“The acting governor should have daring policies to institute genuine reforms in the region,” Mercado said. He added that putting the same political faces in the bureaucracy as OICs would mean the ARMM was not following the “daang matuwid” (straight path) of President Aquino.

The OIC governor should ensure “no wangwang in ARMM governance”, to borrow the President’s use of wangwang in his state of the nation address on July 30 to describe abuse of power, Mercado said.

He said leadership must be by stewardship and not by entitlement, that perks of public offices and public representation be done away with, and that the caretakers must focus on improving the human development indicators in the ARMM.

Sinarimbo cited

Mercado cited Naguib Sinarimbo, the current ARMM executive secretary, who introduced reforms in the regional governance.

“Sinarimbo, who reports to his office by 8:30 or 9 a.m. every day, does his work and visits projects. ES Sinarimbo is, presently, the no-nonsense face of the ARMM,” Mercado said.

He said the acting governor must ensure the peace and security of citizens and not just their (officials’) security and their peace, referring to their use of policemen as escorts.