Hataman denies placing scions of pol clans in key posts for BBL plebiscite

Governor Mujiv Hataman dispelled rumors he was replacing members of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Cabinet to ensure a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) win in a plebiscite slated for its ratification six months prior to the May 2016 elections.

Hataman last week announced in an out-of-town Cabinet Meeting in South Upi, Maguindanao, that a Cabinet revamp was in the offing, but when asked later as to which departments would be affected, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that “nothing is final yet.”

The governor’s appointment of Don Loong as regional secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the ARMM fueled speculation he wanted to ensure a BBL passed by Congress would be supported in plebiscite by the influential Loong family in Sulu, where other political families raised opposition to the proposed law.

But Hataman explained that Loong was next in rank, being the assistant secretary of the DPWH-ARMM, when Assistant Secretary Emil Sadain had to return to the DPWH national office, as a career assistant secretary of that department.

Hataman said he could have requested the national government to prolong the detail of Sadain to ARMM, “with his unprecedented project accomplishments rate here.” But Sadain was up to a next-in-line promotion, after Undersecretary Raul Asis retired as head of the United Project Management Office (UPMO) in Manila, Hataman said.

But sources at the DPWH said for the same post, Secretary Rogelio Singson had endorsed both Sadain and another senior assistant secretary, reportedly an erstwhile endorsee of then Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her term.

Dispelling speculations he wanted members of known political families to spearhead a pro-BBL campaign in the provinces, Hataman said he had not appointed his officials for being member of known political families.

In the case of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-ARMM) portfolio, Secretary Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, a scion of known political family in Lanao, was picked because being the elected ARMM vice-governor, his elective post is entitled to hold an appointive regional cabinet position, according to Hataman.

He said another official bearing a familiar surname, Baintan Adil-Ampatuan, rose from the ranks from being a technical staff to career executive, prior to becoming executive director of the Regional Planning and Development Office.