Bongbong ‘killing’ bill to reset elections in ARMM, says Palace

The senators, led by Senator Marcos, are uncomfortable about giving the President power to appoint officers in charge in the regional government

With Congress set to adjourn next week, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda repeatedly said the bill “deserves” to be heard on the floor after Marcos said it could be archived.

“We understand the position of Sen. Bongbong Marcos. He is against the postponement of the elections, but it deserves an up or down vote. It deserves to be voted whether for or against,” Lacierda told reporters.

He asked Marcos to report out the bill on the floor and “let the entire Senate body decide on (it), and not unilaterally allow the bill to be archived.”

“Let the senators debate on it. If he’s confident that it will be voted down, then so be it. But let’s have an up or down vote,” Lacierda said.

“There are stakeholders here, not only one senator but the entire ARMM population,” he said.

Among those running in the elections is President Aquino’s aunt, Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, who filed her candidacy for vice governor.

Mr. Aquino has been pushing to postpone the elections to pave the way for reforms, but senators are uncomfortable with giving the President power to appoint officers in charge in the regional government.

Sen. Joker Arroyo said to avoid an impasse, the elections should proceed as scheduled, and the next one could be synchronized with the 2013 midterm national elections.

Arroyo said the odds are stacked against the approval of the bill because time is running.

Marcos’ committee is holding a final hearing on the bill next week, but after that, the Senate will have less than two weeks to act on the measure.

“Every time there’s a hearing there’s delay,” said Arroyo, former executive secretary of the late President Corazon Aquino.

Debates on the bill, he said, are entirely a different matter. He said interpellations on giving the President power to appoint OICs were likely to be intense.

“ARMM people want elections. They don’t want appointive officials governing them for three years. You can imagine you will appoint officials to govern them, and the ones that will be appointing them are Christians from Manila,” said Arroyo.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is from Bukidnon, said he agreed that the main argument against the postponement of the elections was the appointment of OICs.