‘No OIC takeover, just transition in ARMM’

The appointed officials who will begin serving in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in September will not formally “take over” the region but will only “prepare” it for the 2013 polls, according to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

Robredo said he will be flying to Davao today for the presentation of the “ARMM road map,” or the government’s plans in the months before the election as well as its timetable for the screening of the applicants and nominees to the caretaker positions.

“The transition team will not take over. It will just prepare for the takeover of new [elected] officials,” he said in a text message.

Screening committee

The Department of the Interior and Local Government is a part of the screening committee that will recommend the appointments for officers-in-charge who will run the ARMM in an interim capacity when the terms of incumbents lapse on Sept. 30.

Congress approved a law resetting the ARMM polls, originally scheduled this month, to May 2013 to coincide with the mid-term polls.

The criteria include the candidates’ “education preparation, experience, performance, accomplishments, reputation for honesty, integrity, incorruptibility, irreproachable conduct, and fidelity to sound moral and ethical standards.”

The transition team will be composed of officials who will be the ARMM counterparts of the national government.

As an autonomous unit, the ARMM—comprising the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur—has its own Cabinet officials, along with a governor and vice governor.

Transition team

Robredo said the screening committee will recommend to President Aquino the OIC governor “10 days before Oct. 1,” by which time the transition team shall have been installed. There are reportedly already some 40 nominees to and applicants for the OIC governor post alone.

Among the names being floated for OIC governor are Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who is being supported by other ARMM local executives, and Anak Mindanao party-list member Mujiv Hataman.

Robredo earlier said the caretaker officials will not be allowed to run in the 2013 elections.