Drilon recommends EO on selection of ARMM OICs

Sen. Franklin Drilon on Thursday recommended that President Benigno Aquino III adopt a draft executive order that would set the guidelines for the selection of the officers-in-charge for the 26 soon-to-be vacated positions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Under the proposed law postponing the August 8, 2011 ARMM elections, a special committee shall be tasked to recommend to the President the nominees for the 26 OIC positions. The measure, however, does not indicate how the committee shall be formed and how it shall screen the nominees. Drilon's draft executive order, which he plans to send to Malacañang later in the day, aims to create a committee composed of 15 members appointed by the President from a list of nominees proposed by the different multi-sectoral bodies in ARMM. "We want a wide consultation as possible," Drilon said. "The vacancies will occur after the term of the incumbent officials expire on September 30, 2011, so there is enough time for the consultation and nomination process." Drilon is one of the authors of the law postponing the ARMM polls, which Aquino had certified as urgent. Selecting the OICs Under Drilon's proposed EO, the screening committee shall be convened by the executive secretary or the presidential adviser on the peace process upon the effectivity of the order. It said that the committee shall submit to the President, after consultations with the Senate president and House speaker, a shortlist of at least three nominees for the vacant elective positions in ARMM within 30 days after convening. "We want to assure everyone in the ARMM that there will be a consultation process which will be transparent and representative so that nobody can say that the appointment will be the exclusive prerogative of the President," said Drilon. He noted, however, that it is still the President's prerogative whether he will adopt his proposed EO. "The President need not adopt it; we're just suggesting a process. They can reject it," he said. Drilon said the vacancies will be one for governor, one for vice governor, and 24 for regional assembly member posts. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News