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President endorsed postponement of the August 11 elections in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to propel a recent
breakthrough in peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said Tuesday.
The endorsement is a reversal of an earlier
stand by Palace officials, who had said the MILF must ask Congress
for a postponement.
But the endorsement may not get approval of the
Senate, Sen. Richard Gordon said, citing the need for a law that
will effect the deferment. Gordon, the chairman of the Senate
Committee on Revision of Codes and Laws, indicated that he would not
act favorably on bills that will seek sanctioning of the
postponement of the regional polls. All election-related proposals
are referred to his committee.
“I am totally against the postponement of the
ARMM elections. Congress has already set a date for these polls, and
only Congress can reset them,” he said in a press statement.
Gordon added that the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
is already prepared for the elections and the commission, as an
independent constitutional body, could not be dictated upon.
“We should go through with [the regional
polls] as scheduled as [they are] not only important to ARMM but
also to the entire country. The automated elections [there] will
pave the way for clean, honest and orderly elections in 2010 and
beyond,” he explained.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo agreed.
“Well, it is [now] the call of Congress.
It’s up to the Senate and the House of Representatives to look
into the matter of postponing the ARMM elections,” Melo told
reporters during a chance interview.
He said it would be better to push through with
the ARMM elections since the commission is ready to hold them.
“I personally believe that the polls are not
only [in the interest of] ARMM but also a preparation for the 2010
elections. We should go into these elections as much as possible,”
Melo added.
President consults
According to Dureza, President Gloria Arroyo’s
endorsement resulted from consultation with retired generals Rodolfo
Garcia and Hermogenes Esperon Jr. Garcia is the government’s chief
peace negotiator and Esperon, the presidential adviser on the peace
process. The President then met with local government officials and
lawmakers from southern Mindanao regarding the postponement.
After the meeting, the press secretary said, the
President decided to endorse the deferment of the regional polls.
During the meeting, Dureza added, many of the
lawmakers from Mindanao, where the autonomous region is, committed
to file a bill in Congress seeking the postponement when session
resumes on July 28.
”There is a strategic development in the peace
negotiations. We want to give it all the chances to succeed. There
is a common recognition that we need a peace settlement in
Mindanao,” the press secretary said during an interview.
Last week, the government granted the demand of
the Muslim rebels for their “ancestral domain” where they can
put up their independent Islamic homeland. Peace talks between the
two sides have been suspended since last year over contentious
debate on such territory.
Dureza said Mrs. Arroyo will likely declare as
urgent the bill that the lawmakers from Mindanao who had promised to
back the postponement will file.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri is also expected to file
a similar measure in the Senate, he added. Zubiri was a former
congressman representing Bukidnon province in Mindanao.
The law states
Under current law, the elections in ARMM are to
be held on the second Monday of August, and a new law is necessary
to change the election date.
”If Congress supports it [deferment], I think
it will become one of the priority legislations of the new
Congress,” Dureza said. He added that he believes Congress
supports the ongoing peace process.
The government and MILF panels are expected to
meet again today to discuss a final agreement on the ancestral
domain.
Also last week, the MILF proposed that the
government reset the elections in the autonomous region. It cited
the adverse effects on the peace process of waiting for those to be
elected to finish their three-year terms before Manila and the
rebels could agree on terms involving the ancestral domain.
When asked if the government favors holding the
regional polls after a final peace agreement is signed, Dureza said
the matter will be “determined by Congress itself.”
House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he will
convene congressmen from Mindanao on Tuesday after Mrs. Arroyo
delivers her State of the Nation Address to ask them whether they
agree to the deferment of the regional polls.
Mock polls peaceful
Earlier during a press conference, Melo declared
that mock elections in the autonomous region area were “peaceful
and successful,” except for those in Maguindanao province. ARMM
also groups Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The mock polls in Maguindanao were moved to a
later date. When they were about to be held, officials raised
security concerns for the President, who was reportedly in nearby
North Cotabato province at the time.
Director James Jimenez, the Comelec spokesman,
said the mock polls were conducted to test the two systems that will
be used in the regional elections—the Optical Mark Reader, or OMR,
and the Direct Recording Electronic, or DRE.
The DRE system of Smartmatic-Sahi will be used
for the elections in Maguindanao and the rest of the autonomous
region, the OMR system of Avante Technologies.
The DRE system will be using a touch screen or
touch pad and fully automated from voting to counting. The OMR
requires filling out a special ballot to be scanned by specially
designed machines.
-- Angelo S. Samonte, Jomar Canlas and Efren L. Danao
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