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Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and its AbsurditiesBy Atty. Algamar A. LatiphSeptember 14, 2010

With the selection of new members of the peace panels for the Government

of the Republic of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front, thepeace process now start afresh. Returning to the table and mapping out theroad to peace is the only option available. Neither party would choosemilitary option.

The Aquino administration, likewise, put Autonomous Region in MuslimMindanao on its radar screen this was its pronouncement during the Eidl FitrDinner in Malacanang last September 14, 2010.

Backed by a popular mandate and with a slogan of anti-corruption,accountability and good governance, a unique opportunity was created forthe people of ARMM. It is, thus, now left to the Aquino government to facethe challenge and seize the moment.

The ARMM is confronted with so many issues and it is waiting for a morecreative alternative to face them. Despite its nearly two decades existence, theregion is the worst practically in all the indicators of Human DevelopmentIndex. Is the problem attributable the ARMM as an organization or the peoplerunning it?

The Constitution espouses decentralization of powers as the structuralrelations between the national government and local government units. Thisdecentralization policy should be construed to exclude ARMM inasmuch as

there should be only one autonomous entity within the region of ARMM. Torule otherwise would bring an absurd situation where we have anautonomous region, the ARMM, governing various autonomous LGUs.

Incidentally, the autonomous power of LGUs is provided for under theLocal Government Code. When this law was enacted there was no ARMMyet. But when ARMM was legislated and, thereafter, revised, there was noeffort to, accordingly, amend and harmonize the LGC in favor of ARMM asthe sole autonomous entity within the region.

Consequently, we have this ARMM and LGUs structural defect making

the former impotent to discharge its mandate. But this, of course, woulddepend on the people who will run the ARMM.

The problem of accountability besets ARMM. The latter is a new creatureunlike the LGUs and other structures of the government. Like, an infantARMM needs proper parental guidance. When it was formed, accountabilityoversights are already in place to discipline it during its formative stage.Thus, we have the Office of the Ombudsman and Civil Service Commission(on disciplining bodies), Commission on Audit (on public fund andproperties), and Congress (on budget). Unfortunately, these institutions haveyet to assert, effectively, its constitutional duty in overseeing the performance

of ARMM.

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We also have the President with direct supervision of ARMM and, moreimportantly, the latter can withhold the budget of ARMM. But previousPresidents were careless in the affairs of ARMM to the extent that it resultedto the 57 Massacre where one of the accused was the incumbent ARMMGovernor and elective officials of LGUs.

It is also noted that the most elective officials of ARMM owe their publicoffice from Malacanang bright about by the latter intervention in anointingthe ARMM public officials. The election, therefore, became irrelevant despiteof the precept that the all powers of the government emanate from theelectorate. Of course, elections were held but we all know that the ticket line-up to the Regional Governor candidate gets nearly all the positions.

There is also constitutional issue that may be raised against ARMMelection since it is not synchronized with the national and local elections. TheCongress may repair the defect by enacting law to conform to theConstitution or by judicial action should a petition prosper before theSupreme Court.

The ARMM election being isolated from the synchronized national andlocal elections had made it vulnerable from political intervention byMalacanang.

Second, ARMM has the high incidence of election-related violence.Ironically, it has an average of one election every year. This would mean thatpeople in the region are too saturated by violence and vulnerability. Needlessto mention that it hosts more than 75 percent of the private armies, the AbuSayyaf Group, rido (family feud), and armed conflict between GRP and MILF.

With these structural legal issues as well as passive institutional

accountability mechanism, the Aquino Administration can choose to repeatthe previous regime or be truthful to its promises. On this question alone, theARMM is hopeful but its expectation is not that high. This is so, so thatfrustration will not be that high also.