For several days now many places in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao have been flooded due to clogging of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, the main river system in the island, by the water hyacinths or popularly known as water lilies, which make the flood water go to the lowlands instead of going to the sea. For many years, these floodings have been happening to the region during the rainy season but actions to solve the main cause of such natural and man-made disaster are so slow. Concerned government agencies and officials in the area are often seen working on a solution during the actual floodings and not before or after them. But this year’s floodings have been the worst in the sense that more areas are affected and more people are dislocated/evacuated. And the government has to declare a state of calamity to these areas.

But a disaster worst than these floods is about to happen in the region. It is purely a “man made” disaster and it is both political and moral disaster. For several weeks already both houses of Congress had approved their separate bills for the postponement and synchronization of ARMM elections in 2013 midterm elections. “Political hyacinths” have blocked the river of democracy so that the people in the ARMM “low lands or from the South” could not exercise their basic rights to vote and choose their own leaders. The bills for the postponement aka synchronization have been identified by the PNoy Administration as urgent but surprisingly up to now no law to this effect has been signed by the President.

Earlier the House version (H B 4146) was really reflective of the Presidential wish – that is the August 8, 2011 ARMM elections would be postponed and the President would appoint his chosen officials who will serve up to May 2013 but who could not run for elections in these synchronized elections. The Senate version (SB 2756) is almost the same (as carried through by the four (4) Liberal Party Senators) but these appointed officials by the President could still run for May 2013 synchronized elections. And it seems that the House had agreed with the Upper chamber’s version. If a law will be signed by the President which is already in the bag, then the PNoy administration and its anointed ones has never had it so good to have their cake and eat it too. It will simply be worst than the martial law period and even during the President Corazon C. Aquino’s revolutionary constitution.

Indeed a disaster waiting to happen in ARMM

Peoples in the ARMM, no matter one classifies the region as a failed political project, do not deserve such preventable disaster. In fact, many of them wonder why no law has been signed yet when the President and his advisers have been campaigning for the postponement since last year because it is so urgent. Of course people have understood that the President and his advisers are buying their time now hoping to dissipate and defuse peoples anger and disappointment by the time a law will be signed. Of course the people in the ARMM are aware that the President and his advisers are weighing their chances and that proper time should be observed because they (PNoy and his advisers) are aware of the constitutional and moral infirmities and limitations of the about to be signed law. And of course PNoy and his advisers should have the law just in time for the Second State of the Nation Address (SONA) where he will present the approved law and his anointed ones but most important of all is that they (PNoy and his advisers) want that the people who will question the law’s constitutionality to the Supreme Court and bringing the moral legitimacy of the law to the people will lost their time. Meanwhile PNoy and his advisers are testing the waters for their anointed ones.

Testing the Political Ground

It has been said that by the end of this month, President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) will announce his chosen one as acting governor of ARMM in the next 21 months. In fact, the other day it was announced that PNoy has already endorsed his anointed one. Only to be denied by Malacañang the next day and nothing has been heard since then. It has been obvious that the President’s men and women were just testing the ground. Especially so that their chosen one has never been so popular even in his island province where he lost his gubernatorial bid in May 2010 elections. Before 2010, the anointed one had also got dismal votes in the province as a Partylist representative. How he has been chosen by the President only his Adviser on Political Affairs can answer. But definitely not because the latter would want to discover new politics in the former but it should be to the outmost advantage of the opportunities (political as well as personal) for the partisan interest of the Political affairs adviser. It should be noted that the Partylist of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs has not been visible in the ARMM especially in the Bangsamoro population. It is the best and safest way in selecting somebody not known to be a member of one’s Partylist group and yet because the chosen one will be beholden to the anointing one, he will be serving the interest of the anointing authority. Of course PNoy will be the formal anointing authority but he will only select from the list provided by the so called selecting committee all of whom are not from Mindanao and definitely not from ARMM but have been acting as experts on Mindanao and ARMM and one of these “experts” is the Political Affairs Adviser.

The June 16, 2011 announcement and the denial of the anointed has been part of the whole scheme planned and executed by PNoy and his advisers. It should be noted that as early as late last year and early this year the allies of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs have been going around and preparing the ground for the anointment of their selected candidate for OIC of ARMM which means they had to work hard to invent reasons for the postponement of the August 8, 2011 ARMM elections so that PNoy can short cut the political process. They even made the criteria for the selection of their candidate. They had arranged audience and signed agreement with Moro revolutionary groups in order to support their moves for the appointment of their candidate. They also have initiated and launched civil society groups and movements to support their candidate and paint a picture that their candidate is not from the traditional politics (trapos) because they put as one of the criteria for the ARMM governor who should not be identified as trapo. One has just to look at the list of member organizations of the so called civil society movements for reform in ARMM and one can easily identify that not so few of these are identified with the Party of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs. This makes people even think if the “Political Affairs” here actually refers to the activities of the Political Party of the said Advoser. So when the June 16, 2011 announcement came that PNoy has endorsed a former Partylist representative as OIC ARMM governor, not so many were surprised except of course Malacañang and the so called advisers who immediately denied the “Presidential Endorsement”.

The Need for Political and Moral Closures

The people of the ARMM are still giving the PNoy administration the benefit of the doubt in its aim to curb if not eliminate corruption during its term. This is the main reason why many of them would want to have the elections in August 8, 2011 since this is supposed to be the first one for a regional election after the Ampatuans. After all they want to prove that democracy could have worked hand in hand with autonomy after the autocratic reign of the Ampatuans as supported by the former Arroyo administration. In fact, the people of ARMM have put their hope in the PNoy administration to be not only a complete opposite of the previous administration but would respect and help them nurture democracy and have autonomy grown fully bloomed. But before the people of ARMM will completely lost this hope for the PNoy administration they want some closures on the following but not limited to these issues.

The 2007 Batasan Bombing

The barbaric act had happened almost four years ago but it has big implication to ARMM today. It is because the person who is about to be appointed as OIC of ARMM was implicated among others. The obvious object of the bombing was the sitting representative of the island province and all the rest who were murdered with him are just collateral damage. Not so few were maimed and wounded but they too were part of the collateral. It is not a secret that the murdered representative was the main political stumbling block of the traditional politicians in the island province. In fact, during his murder, he had just defeated a brother of the Presidential anointed one in the 2007 congressional elections in the province. After almost four years, nothing seems to happen except that Presidential anointed one was cleared by the former Secretary Raul Gonzalez of the Department of Justice to the surprise of the prosecutors of the case. The former Deputy Speaker – Jerry Salapudin – was issued a warrant of his arrest but up to now nothing has been heard regarding the status of his case. Surely he has many stories to tell about the bombing. The first cousin of the anointed one (the same family name) was arrested but he got his self released and nothing has been heard of about his whereabouts.

Given the context of how justice had been dispensed of the past DOJ of the previous administration, the people of ARMM would want to revisit the case. With the person about to be appointed in the highest executive position in ARMM, the people especially the victims deserve nothing less. The closure of this issue will be rights step of PNoy and his administration in walking with the people in ARMM on “Daang Matuwid”.

The Issue on Ombudsman

The issue is related to the actuations of the Anointed one during his time as a Partylist Representative. An issue on Fund disbursements was raised by the Anointed one’s party mates showing a lopsided preference to his island province. People came to know about the issue because when it was first raised within the partylist concerned the Anointed one simply dissolved the legitimate Council which he had participated in its election as written document would show and formed his own council. The partylist asked the House to investigate and the issue has reached the Ombudsman. There was investigation conducted and the several barangays leaders were said to sign affidavits that indeed anomalies happened. Some of them were kept silent and some simply disappeared. Meanwhile just like in the DOJ, nothing has happened to the investigation conducted by the Ombudsman. And meanwhile, harassments and warrant of arrests were received by the Officials of the Partylist concerned.

If PNoy and his administration is serious in minimizing if not eradicating graft and corruption during his term, the people in ARMM do not deserve having this kind of an anointed one even for a day.

The Presidential Blinks

Some very revealing moments were observed during the Senate deliberation of SB 2756. There were clear moments when PNoy and his advisers were not sure of the Senate’s approval of the proposed bill and the COMELEC had to extend several times the deadline of the filing of certificates of candidacy, PNoy and his advisers had to let their anointed one to file his certificate of candidacy in the last minute. This was a problematic stage, because they (PNoy and his advisers) had to campaign that no reforms could be instituted if the elections were not postponed or synchronized in 2013 and yet they had to make sure that their anointed one would be there if ever elections will not be postponed. This is still the game plan of PNoy and his advisers, just in case the Supreme Court will see the constitutional darkness of the synchronization of elections. But anyway, this has put into question of their belief that if 2011 elections will push through no genuine reforms could take place in ARMM.

In the pre-approval of the SB2756 PNoy and his advisers had even to meet and convince the ARMM governors and officials to support their anointed one. This was the meeting that Gov. Toto Mangudadatu was describing in June 16 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Legal and technical questions were raised by some Senators about possible appointments for OICs in the executive and legislative branches of those who filed their certificates of candidacy for the positions in pre June 6 2011 period.For some people these candidates do not believe that reforms in ARMM could only be possible after the synchronized elections in 2013. These people, including the anointed one manifested by filing his certificate of candidacy that reforms in the region can only be possible if these are supported by the people in ARMM during the August 2011 scheduled elections .

Unless of course, the act of filing the certificate of candidacy is purely opportunistic in the part of the anointed one just to make sure that he would not be technically out of the ARMM gubernatorial race, knowing that the support of PNoy and his advisers could make miracles and what had been agreed or made sure by the May 30, 2011 meeting between the PNoy and his advisers and the ARMM governors.

In the next few days and weeks, a worst disaster is waiting to happen in ARMM unless the people in ARMM will translate their opposition to the postponement of 2011 election to an “Arab type” movement finding their own TAHRIR in this issue. Unless the Supreme Court will bravely point out the glaring error in Pnoy and his advisers thinking of Autocracy in exchange of Autonomy and unless the PNoy blinks again…

R. de Silva
June 19, 2011