ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and two other ARMM officials Thursday asked the Supreme Court to enjoin Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno from suspending and taking over the functions of ARMM officials.

In a 30-page petition, Ampatuan along with ARMM Vice-Governor Ansaruddin Adiong and Regional Legislative Assembly Speaker Regie Sahali-Generale asked the High Court to declare as unconstitutional Proclamation No 1946 which placed Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato city in a state of emergency following the brutal slay of 57 persons in Ampatuan town last November 23.

Of the 57, 30 were media men while the rest were members and supporters of Maguindanao Gubernatorial candidate and Buluan Vice-Mayor Esmael “Toto” Manguddadatu who were mostly women.

Witnesses have tagged Ampatuan scion, Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr as the one who led the carnage along with more than a hundred heavily-armed militiamen.

The Palace order which was issued a day after the brutal slay allowed the deployment of police and military troops in areas of conflict to stem incidents of lawlessness.

In the same petition for TRO and writs of prohibition and preliminary prohibitory injunction, the Ampatuans also asked the Court to junk for being illegal Administrative Order 273 which was issued by President Arroyo last Friday transferring the supervision of the autonomous region from the Office of the President to the DILG pursuant to the Adminstrative Code of 1987 which empowers the Chief Exective to transfer any function under her office to any department agency.

The AO gave Puno the authority to exercise administrative control over the ARMM and suspend all local officials who may have participated in the commission of the crime.

Immediately, Puno took to task Gov. Ampatuan to explain within five days allegations that he failed to protect the civil, human and political rights of the victims.

The Ampatuans through counsel Sigfrid Fortun said the presidential proclamation encroached on the autonomy of the ARMM and deprived them of the opportunity to faithfully perform their duties as elected ARMM officials.

Fortun said the President can only interfere in the affairs and activities of a local government unit if she finds that the latter has acted contrary to law. “Hence, the President or any of her alter egos cannot interfere in local affairs as long as the concerned local government unit acts within the parameters of the law and Constitution,” Fortun added.

“ARMM is free to chart its own destiny and shape its future with minimum intervention from central authorities. As a matter of fact, because of decentralization of power in its favor, it becomes accountable not to the central authorities but to its constituency,” Fortun told the Court.

On Tuesday, the Ampatuan clan led by its patriarch Maguindanao Gov. Andal Sr and seven other members including the ARMM Gov asked the High Court to stop law enforcement authorities from arresting any member of the clan without warrants issued by the court.

They also asked the Court to compel prosecutors to conduct preliminary investigations as a prelude to the issuance of warrants of arrest against them for their supposed complicity in the carnage saying “the right of the accused to a preliminary investigation should never be compromised at the altar of expediency.