PNoy-MILF meet a sidebar in ARMM polls oral arguments

MANILA, Philippines - The meeting between President Benigno Aquino III with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led by its chairman, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, in Tokyo, Japan last Thursday may have been in the context of a peace process between the Moro rebels and government but it was raised as a side bar issue during oral arguments Tuesday at the Supreme Court (SC) on petitions against the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Petitioner House minority leader Edcel Lagman and former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., representing petitioner Almarim Centi Tillah, et al. and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban) which also questioned the constitutionality and validity of recently enacted Republic Act (RA) No. 10153, expressed concern about the possible repercussion of the Tokyo meeting on the postponement of the regional polls.

“At the moment, we are unaware of the repercussions of the meeting between the President and the MILF's Murad Ebrahim. (We don't know) the government's agenda for postponing the elections and appointing OICs (officers-in-charge), the projected selections of OICs, whether partisans of MILF considered for appointment to prop up the resumption of the peace process... Whether the Constitutionally-mandated ARMM will be expanded, restricted or supplanted by a Bangsamoro state,” Lagman told the magistrates in his opening statement.

“All of these are conjectures, speculation. But they provide a contemporary setting for the instant petitions,” he added.

Pimentel, for his part, described the Aquino-MILF meeting to ABS-CBN News as a "calculated move" by the administration to douse opposition to RA No. 10153 or An Act Providing for the Synchronization of the Elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with the National and Local Elections.

The assailed law resets and synchronizes the regular elections for ARMM Governor, Vice-governor and members of the Regional Legislative Assembly with the national and local elections on the 2nd Monday of May 2013.

"I think it was a calculated move for the president to say:'Look, do not be anxious, I'm trying to do everything I can, even under the ambit of (RA No.) 10153,' which is illegal and unconstitutional. And probably, (it was an attempt to convince) the Supreme Court to say there is no need for accommodating (RA No.) 10153 because he is doing something already with the very face of rebellion of the MILF," Pimentel said.

Pimentel, who authored both Republic Act 9054(An Act to Strengthen and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), also known as the Organic Act of the ARMM, as amended, and the Local Government Code, said he does not object per se to the meeting between Aquino and Murad and that minus the ARMM polls element, it has his support.

Pimentel pointed out that his concern comes with the postponed regional elections in the equation.

With this in mind, Pimentel stressed that Murad does not represent all the Bangsamoro people.

"Murad is only a rebel leader in that group. There are several [other] groups whose needs have to be addressed in a peaceful and just manner. Haji Murad is my friend but I don't think he speaks for the entire Moro people," Pimentel said.

"For heaven's sake, let it not be said that because of that talk, RA No. 10153 is ok. It's not ok," he said.  

Pimentel said he believes Murad "is an innocent victim in this play" and that "it was the people around the president who induced Murad to see the president in Japan to make it more dramatic."

The meeting -- the first between a head of state and the MILF since negotiations for peace began 14 years ago -- was described as "informal" by Malacanang and a boost to formal negotiations between the panels of both sides.  

'Cancellation' of ARMM polls a derogation of right of suffrage

Former University of the Philippines law dean, Atty. Pacifico Agabin, representing petitioners Datu Michael Abas Kida, et al. and Basari Mapupuno, told the magistrates that Section 2 of RA No. 10153 is, in fact, a "cancellation" of the ARMM elections.

"The fact is that the elections had been cancelled. This virtually deprives the people of the ARMM of their right of suffrage as guaranteed by (the) Constitution... That will go against the grain of a democratic and republican government prescribed by our Constitution," Agabin said.

Agabin stressed that the assailed law is an amendment to the Organic Act of the ARMM since, aside from synchronizing the regional elections with the national and local elections, "it gives authority to the president in that he may appoint officers-in-charge(OIC)" in the region.

 "The president has only the power of supervision and not of control over local government officials," Agabin argued.

Grilled by the magistrates on petitioners' assertion that any amendment to the ARMM Organic Act must be through "super majority" vote or  2/3 of both chambers of Congress voting separately and subsequently subjected to a plebiscite, Agabin argued that this provision in the organic act must be faithfully complied with as it is a self-limitation imposed by Congress itself to make sure that sovereignty ultimately rests with the people.

"Sovereignty really resides in the people and the power to legislate is upon Congress. And Congress itself imposed the limitation on itself and by that it gave the power to the people to approve or reject... This self-limitation gives back to the people their sovereign right," Agabin said.

Asked by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, Jr. if this meant "Congress has relinquished its power to legislate," Agabin said:"The term should not really be to relinquish because what Congress did was to give back to the people their sovereign right to legislate in much the same way that a law passed by Congress may be overruled via a referendum."

Grilled by Chief Justice Renato Corona on whether "the president's power and the power [of Congress] to pass amendatory laws [are] inferior to the power of the people of the ARMM to self-govern, Agabin said:"Yes, so that if the people want to exercise sovereignty directly, they may do so."

Appointment of OIC's 'invalid,' may be cured by holdover provision

Lagman, during his presentation, argued against the constitutionality and validity of Sections 3-5 of RA No. 10153 which provide for appointment of OIC's, manner and procedure of appointing OIC's, and their qualifications.

He stressed that the Constitution only allows for "elective and representative" officials for the autonomous region.

"The appointment by the president of OIC's violates the Constitution. An appointive OIC is not elective. An appointive OIC is not representative of the constituent political units," Lagman said.

"The OIC's are not going to serve for a short duration, they will discharge the powers and functions of the elective officials for 2 yrs or 2/3 of the term of elective officials," he added.

Appointing OIC's, Lagman argued, would defeat the purpose of the region's autonomy "since OIC's are beholden to the president, accountable to the president, and removable by the president."

"The appointment of OIC's is an unconstitutional expansion of the president's power of supervision to the unlimited power to appoint," he stressed.

Instead of appointing OIC's Lagman said the holdover provision may be applied.

"The hold over provision upholds the electoral will because the incumbents continue to enjoy their mandate," Lagman said.

On the matter of  2/3 majority vote requirement in amending an organic act, Lagman pointed out that this was "more than a self-imposition, it was an implementation of the constitutional guarantee of the autonomy of the ARMM."

Creation of ARMM not just through an 'ordinary law'

Pimentel, in his presentation, told the magistrates that amendments to the ARMM Organic Act were intended to satisfy both "super majority" and plebiscite conditions because creating the autonomous region was brought about by a historical perspective that was in no way plain nor ordinary.

"That(ARMM Organic Act) is not jst an ordinary law and therefore, the creation of the ARMM demands a more sophisticated method of bringing it about. And therefore, amendments must [also] comply [with the 2 conditions] -- not to make an irrepealable law -- but to make the amendments difficult to accomplish," Pimentel argued.

"Through the years, after so may [peace and political] negotiations, it was eventually agreed that why don’t we try adopting an ARMM that will address all the angst, anxiety, grievances of the [Bangsamoro] people? [Why don't we] try a legal, peaceful manner? And that is the reason why, among other things, RA No. 6734(An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) was enacted," he said.

Pimentel stressed that the Bangsamoro people's "right to suffrage is guaranteed by the Constitution, by the [ARMM] Organic Act.

"We have no other recourse but to seek [redress from the] Court, to solve the impasse... [ARMM is an] autonomous region which was created to lay down the basis for [the Bangsamoro's] just aspirations," Pimentel said.

To which Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said:"What you just said now reminds me what Mr. Murad, the chair of the MILF said -- that he rejects the ARMM because it is a fake autonomy; rest assured, we will do our best to make it a real autonomy."

The Office of the Solicitor General was unable to present its arguments before the magistrates because of time constraints and will have its opportunity next Tuesday.

Seven laws have been passed so far resetting the elections in the ARMM, but the latest enactment, RA No. 10153, thus far resets the polls the longest.