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TAKING a
cue from Malacañang, the Arroyo-dominated House of
Representatives said Wednesday that Congress can pass a
joint resolution to postpone the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections, set on August 11.
Speaker
Prospero Nograles said the President can then certify as
urgent such a joint resolution to fast-track it through
the legislative mill. Certification is among the
constitutional powers of the President to have any law
she may deem necessary to meet a public calamity or
emergency quickly enacted.
“The
only requirement under the Constitution in the exercise
thereof is that she deems it urgent. When the President
certifies a bill to Congress as urgent, the usual
requirement of three readings on different days for the
passage of a bill is dispensed with,” said Nograles.
It was
not clear how the bill can be fast-tracked when most
senators signaled earlier their opposition to the
postponement.
Nograles
cited Section 26, Article 6 of the Constitution, which
states that: “Every bill passed by Congress shall
embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the
title thereof. No bill passed by either House shall
become law unless it has passed three readings in
separate days and printed copies thereof in its final
form have been distributed to its members three days
before its passage, except when the President certifies
to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a
public calamity or emergency. Upon the last reading of a
bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed, and the
vote thereon shall be taken immediately thereafter, and
the ayes and nays entered in the Journal.”
Mrs.
Arroyo on Tuesday said postponement of the ARMM
elections would give peace negotiations with the
separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) “an
opportunity to succeed.”
Malacañang on Wednesday allayed fears of a hidden agenda
in its support for the postponement of the polls set on
August 11, and insisted that it is nothing more than a
confidence-building measure to ensure the success of
peace negotiations.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also said in his
weekly news briefing that President Arroyo may certify
as urgent any bill or resolution resetting the ARMM
elections because of time constraints.
He said
that while Malacañang respects the reluctance of some
lawmakers to support the postponement of the elections,
they must understand that the President’s support for
the move was based on the recommendation of government
peace negotiators in consultation with the MILF, the
Moro National Liberation Front and some envoys of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
“Our
higher interest is to move the peace process forward. We
are very hopeful that with this postponement of
elections, if it passes both houses of Congress, will be
a confidence-building measure between the GRP and MILF
and even Malaysia, which is the go-between and even the
OIC, that the Philippine government had at least
considered postponing the ARMM elections in response to
their request,” he said.
Ermita
noted that chief peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.,
after a lunch meeting with MILF Vice Chairman for
Political Affairs Ghazali Jaafar in Cotabato City, had
reported that Jaafar was “thankful for the President’s
gesture of pushing for postponement.
“With
that we are hoping that the MILF, in return, will be
more agreeable to hastening the process after the
signing of the MOA [on ancestral domain],” Ermita said.
The
memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain is
expected to be signed in Kuala Lumpur by the two panels
after July 24, possibly on July 25, said Ermita.
Ermita
denied speculation that the final peace agreement with
the MILF would give way to Charter changes that would
extend the President’s term.
On the
Commission on Elections objection to the postponement,
Ermita said the Comelec should just continue with
preparations “until they receive an official notice of
the action from Congress on the postponement and if it
does not happen, then the election is on.” |
