The appointment of a non-Muslim officer in charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will drive the final nail in the coffin of decimated autonomy in ARMM.
The opinion of the COMELEC qualifying a non-Muslim OIC is an aberration worse than postponement of the ARMM elections.
While the Organic Act establishing ARMM and its previous amendments do not require a religious or ethnic qualification for the principal executive and legislative officials of ARMM, neither do these enactments contemplate non-Muslim stewards of ARMM.
In fact, appointive officials were not contemplated by the prior enactments because the Constitution mandates under Section 18 of Article X that the “organic act shall define the basic structure of government for the region (Autonomous Regions) consisting of the executive department and legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political units.”
Moreover, no ethnic or religious qualification was imposed because this would have been a surplusage since it stands to reality and reason that no non-Muslim can ever be popularly elected to head ARMM.
Consequently, whether elective or appointive, the leadership of ARMM is reserved to Muslims to underscore and uphold autonomy.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the Minority is juvenile for demanding a congressional probe of errant shooting buddies of the President and other favored officials.
What is juvenile about demanding that errant officials be disciplined and dismissed? Ang mga may katiwalian ay kailangan sibakin. Itong si Lacierda ang isip-bata sapagkat pinagtatanggol niya ang Pangulo kapares ng isang bata na pinoproteksyonan ang hawak-hawak na candy or lollipop.
Lacierda said the Minority is not doing their homework because both Torres and Puno have already been investigated, but he failed to state that the results of the investigation by the DOJ panel on Torres and the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on Puno were adverse.
Lacierda said that the Minority is making noise because Congress has adjourned, implying that they do not have a venue for fireworks. He is wrong because the Minority works with or without sessions and during adjournment.
Unlike other officials, we do not rest during the day and play at night.
The extreme alarm and belligerence by which the President’s allies in Malacañang and in Congress are opposing the House Minority’s call to investigate errant presidential cronies expose the fragile excuses and patent culpabilities of special buddies.
The proffered defenses of PNoy apologists are contrived and baseless for the following reasons:
1) The projected congressional inquiry is not a “fishing expedition”, as claimed by Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, because some of the “big fishes” have already been caught by independent investigations but set free by no less than the President himself.
Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Virginia Torres, a target range buddy of the President, was recommended for dismissal by a fact-finding panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for her complicity and partiality in the failed Stradcom takeover, and yet the President ignored the recommendation and confirmed her eventual return after a brief self-imposed leave of absence.
The Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) headed by DOJ Secretary Leila De Lima recommended the filing of charges against Undersecretary Ricardo Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), another buddy of the President of long standing, for his culpable ineptness in the handling of the fatal hostage rescue operation as the Undersecretary in charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), but the President absolved him of any liability in utter disregard of the IIRC findings.
The President moto propio cleared with alacrity Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima of tax irregularities despite clear incriminatory evidence, and even rammed through the confirmation of Purisima in the Commission on Appointments.
2) The self-serving explanation of presidential friends of any wrongdoings must not insulate them from the furnace of a thorough and impartial investigation.
3) Congressional investigations, which are principally in aid of legislation, must not be abdicated to favor presidential friends while being pursued selectively against political foes, to ensure that perfecting legislation will not be thwarted by partisan discrimination.
Prosecution and legislation are separate, although complementary, modes of action to guarantee good governance and an upright bureaucracy.
Prosecution is a process against individual offenders whereas congressional investigations in aid of legislation are for the enactment of statutes to cover general application.
Moreover, why should the President’s allies in Malacañang and in Congress be more popish than pope when the subject officials have signified their willingness to be investigated?
The tyrants of numbers must not be scared of the marginalized but vigilant minority, but they should be afraid of the people’s wrath.
The target must not be moved nor concealed against an impending bull’s eye.
A year ago, we were promised: a government run by people chosen on the basis of integrity, competence and performance. Today, we have a government where there is a surfeit of kakampi, kaklase and kabarilan.
In a word: cronies. Dalawamput-limang taon matapos mapatalsik ang mga kampon ni Marcos, nakapuwesto naman ang mga katuwang ni PNoy.
And when these close associates run afoul, true to the crony patron he has shown himself to be, President Aquino drags his feet in investigating, reprimanding, and firing, even as he harangues and harasses political rivals with no basis or evidence.
Now, even a loyal family friend and one of the few gems in the Cabinet, has found PNoy’s cronyism too much to stomach. We commend DOTC Secretary Ping de Jesus for refusing to bend his principles in the face of a President who bends so easily to the winds and wiles of cronyism.
We in the House Minority will also not let good governance and the national interest be compromised to accommodate the presidential barkada and repay political debts.
We are filing a resolution to investigate members of the official family whom the Palace has refused to hold accountable: shooting buddies Rico Puno for alleged bribery and Virginia Torres for illegal meddling, kabarkada Executive Secretary Ochoa and his reported P40-million mansion, Finance Secretary Purisima, filing tax charges against political enemies, but not his own correct returns, and now PCSO Chairperson Juico, who has claimed financial troubles and denied much needed assistance, while sitting on billions of pesos in the bank left intact by the previous administration.
We can only hope that former senator Mar Roxas, having been pressed to take the DOTC post, will not let PNoy’s kabarilan LTO ASec. Torres resume her unsavory ways threatening to jeopardize the nation’s entire driver licensing and vehicle registration system. We shall also call for hearings to be assured that the DOTC shall discharge its functions properly, including the bidding out of PPP projects with transparency, fairness, and public interest ensured.
Speaking of PPP, we must also look into the Aquino Administration’s series of canceled contracts, for which the country may again be taken to international court, and lambasted as a place where investors sign deals at their own grave risk. How can the country attract private partners for mega-projects if the President rips to shreds perfected contracts with reputable global enterprises?
Kung ang kontrata hindi igagalang, ang Pilipinas iilagan at iiwasan.
Our anti-crony watch will have to get even sharper. We see clear cronyism in the appointment of a long-time family friend, Domingo Lee, as Ambassador to China despite lacking the experience and training for the delicate post in Beijing, especially at this time of thorny sovereignty issues in the South China Sea.
Even more critical for the anti-crony watch is the Ombudsman, which must be filled with someone not only untainted by scandal, but also free from partisan politics or presidential influence. Certainly, the next Ombudsman should not deal with allegations about administration officials the way the President dismisses them.
And we cannot but shudder to think what cronyism PNoy would unleash in Muslim Mindanao once the bill to put ARMM under his handpicked OICs becomes law. This unconstitutional and illegal measure to rob our Muslim compatriots of their autonomy and votes must be contested in the proper forum.
Nothing in our democracy is more inviolable than the fundamental right of our citizens to elect their own leaders. Postponing the elections in the region and allowing the President to merely appoint officials in the interim tramples on this right and violates the autonomy provided by the ARMM charter.
Hindi dapat hayaang magpuwesto rin ng mga crony sa ARMM.
We have already seen P-Noy’s penchant to appoint his pals. Who is to say that the posts in ARMM won’t be filled up once again on the basis of friendship with the President and not on the basis of any real ability to bring progress to the region?
Malacanang’s scheme to postpone the ARMM elections persists despite an SWS survey showing 51 percent of our people oppose this very plan. Makinig ka sa iyong mga boss, PNoy!
Instead of hatching one political scheme after another, the President should pay attention to the deteriorating economic figures. GDP growth, foreign investment, business and consumer confidence, hunger and poverty, and now inflation and interest rates are all taking a turn for the worse.
As the people are surveyed for their ratings of the government, they too are asking: Mr. President, where are you and your cronies taking our country?
Kung panay politika at barkada ang aatupagin, ang Tuwid na Daan pupunta sa bangin.
