GMA News
08/28/2010 | 08:35 PM
Reelected Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan has asked the Philippine government to consider abolishing the five-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), saying it has failed to address problems like poverty and crime in the widely-dispersed territory.
In a letter to President Benigno Aquino III dated August 20, Tan said he supports the “clamor" among his constituents and other local officials to abolish the two-decades old ARMM and “revert the region back to the mainstream national system."
“The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has been there for the last 22 years. Peace, public order and development continue to elude us. Our people remain poor. Our communities continue to be distraught by lawless violence," the Sulu governor said in the letter.
He likewise described the autonomous region in the predominantly Muslim provinces of southern Philippines as “a classic example of a pathetic and useless tier in government."
The ARMM was created in 1989 though Republic Act 6734, which was passed in accordance with Article X, Section 15 of the 1987 Constitution which provides for the creation of an autonomous region in Mindanao.
Five provinces — Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan—were included in the region after a plebiscite among its resident conducted upon passage of the law.
Proposals
In the same letter, Tan however recognized that “legalities have to hurdled" before the region is dissolved, so he proposed several steps that could be taken by the government “to make ARMM work."
The Sulu governor said the Philippine government should consider foregoing the ARMM elections scheduled for next year and instead just appoint the heads of the autonomous region.
“Inasmuch as only those favored by Malacañang get to be elected regional governor and vice-governor traditionally, the officials in ARMM should simply be appointed and directly held accountable by the central government," he said.
Tan also urged the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to review the “relevance and performance of the offices and functions devolved to the ARMM."
“While we require both local government units and national government agencies to be prudent in fiscal management, the ARMM must also illustrate how well-programmed and spent were each centavo the central government has provided it," he said.
No to further division
Tan likewise opposed further moves to divide the ARMM, such as the one proposed in a bill filed by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Lower House.
The Sulu governor said Arroyo’s proposal will only further “foment discord" in the region.
“Such proposal may provide politicians extra window for positioning. However, it does not address the sustained crisis in governance which continues to afflict our people and region," he said.
Rep. Arroyo filed in July House Bill 173, which seeks to split ARMM into two regions—the western islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the two provinces in mainland Mindanao, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
Copies of the letter were also sent to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, according to Tan.
Tan, who has survived at least one assassination attempt last year and a recent bombing incident at Zamboanga airport, is Mrs. Arroyo’s party-mate in the previously dominant Lakas-Kampi-CMD party. (See: Zambo blast not the handiwork of terrorists — military)—Al Jacinto/ACC/JV, GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199680/sulu-gov-wants-failed-armm-abolished
