MANILA, Philippines — Last week June 8, 2011, the Senate, with a vote of 13-7, approved the bill canceling the August, 2011, elections for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The bill also gave the President the authority to appoint Officers-in-Charge (OIC) of the regional government.

The cancellation of election and the appointment of OICs were of course hotly debated, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. During the committee deliberations of the bill, Muslim members of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs and the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms walked out of the hearing when their plea for postponement of vote, pending public consultations, was not granted by the Liberal Party members of the committees. The House version of the bill was immediately sent to the Senate.

Public consultations were also held in various provinces comprising ARMM, under the auspices of the Senate Committees on Local Government and on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms. A national survey was likewise conducted by reputable polling institutes to get the public pulse on the matter.

All surveys and public consultations point to one conclusion — people, both Muslims and Christians, inside and outside of ARMM, are against the cancellation of the polls. The Senate Committees on Local Government and Electoral Reforms, based on the result of public consultations conducted, decided to archive the bill despite certification by the President of its urgency.

The Local Legislative Assembly of ARMM, on the other hand, issued a resolution opposing the move to cancel ARMM elections. Yet, in the end, the executive branch prevailed over the general public sentiment.

The unpopularity of the move was expected. The move was anathema to autonomy.

Autonomy was the response of the Philippine government to the demand of the Muslims for cessation, to preserve the integrity of the national territory. ARMM was a product of decades-long struggle of the Muslims, which, at a stroke of a pen, was taken away from those who gave their lives in the name of freedom and self determination.

The legal infirmity of the move was extensively debated in the halls of congress, but Congress is not the right authority to render authoritative decision on the legality question. The Supreme Court, when the issue is brought before it, will hand down the final verdict. Meantime, the public will simply have to wait and see, as the protagonists wage their legal battle.

Dream team

The ARMM constituency lost their opportunity to select and elect new set of leaders with both intention and capability to govern well. They may also have lost the opportunity of electing a generally perceived “Dream Team” for ARMM – Datu Pax Mangudadatu-Ting Ting Cojuangco tandem.

The two running together was perceived as an ideal tandem, given their known areas of expertise and spheres of influence. The two have similarities that can serve as basis for their unity and have differences that can serve as basis for healthy complementation.

Datu Pax S. Mangudadatu, Al Haj, is a seasoned politician and bureaucrat. He has been in public service for more than three decades, both in the executive and the legislative branches of government. He was municipal mayor of the town of Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat, for three terms beginning 1988.

He was provincial governor of Sultan Kudarat also for three terms beginning 1998 and served as representative of the First District of Sultan Kudarat from 2007 to 2010. Datu Pax’ public service record is a clear proof of his unassailable competence in both areas of policy making and policy execution. His long stint as local chief executive only demonstrated his good leadership skills.

During his stint as representative of the Province of Sultan Kudarat, Datu Pax was elected chairman of the House Committee on Mindanao Affairs. This was expected, given his extensive linkages with Muslim organizations all over the world. He has been the vice president of the Malay World Organization, with 13 member countries, since 2003 and president of the National Council of Muslim Leaders from 2003 up to the present.

He is also a member of the Mindanao-Malaysia Friendship Royal Society. Datu Pax authored laws of national significance in the House of Representatives, including Republic Act No 9994, “An act Granting additional Benefits to Senior Citizens”; co-authored RA 9700 aimed at sustaining the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program; RA 9502, the Cheaper Medicines Act; and RA 9996 creating the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). He also heads Datu Pax Beyond Peace Foundation, Inc., a foundation advocating peace and development in Mindanao. He is an active member of various civic organizations: Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines,

Rotary Club of the Philippines, and Lions Club of the Philippines, to name a few.

Datu Pax is also an experienced peace negotiator. He was a member of the Government Peace Panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from 2003 to 2006. He also serves as Ambassador of Peace recognized by Universal Peace Federation.

Datu Pax is also known for his success in forging peace accords among the various tribes in Sultan Kudarat. This success explains why the province is the only province not affected by atrocities of various armed groups. He was also instrumental in the conduct of regular peace forums and interfaith dialogues in Mindanao.

Datu Pax has had various significant achievements during his long years in the local government. It was thru him that modern infrastructures in Sultan Kudarat were built, including the provincial sports complex and cultural centers, provincial hospitals, and a modern provincial capitol.

These infrastructures are unmatched in Mindanao. He also established mobile hospitals to deliver free health care services to the various households of Sultan Kudarat. Such pro-active programs keep Datu Pax close to the people of Sultan Kudarat.

Datu Pax has successfully implemented projects that empower the people of Sultan Kudarat. He implemented scholarship programs, at all levels, in Sultan Kudarat with the aim of giving every household a college graduate. He initiated various livelihood programs to address the basic food requirements of the communities.

These livelihood projects include cattle, goat, kabir, and duck raising and dispersal projects. These livelihood projects consequently enabled various communities to engage in dairy productions which became Sultan Kudarat’s source of milk for distribution to undernourished kids.

Margarita delos Reyes “Ting Ting” Cojuangco is not only a seasoned bureaucrat. She has also embraced the culture and Muslim Mindanao for the past three decades, including extensive study, travel, and capacity building throughout all the five autonomous provinces.

One thing people fail to know about Tingting is she was asked to be vice governor by the residents of ARMM. She was governor of the province of Tarlac for two terms, from 1992-1998.

Her six years of feeding program in the province significantly improved the health of thousands of children. Her agricultural program significantly improved farmers productivity from a yield of just 50 to 70 to 100 cavans. She was president of the Philippine Public Safety College, the post she just recently vacated, in deference to the election of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who is her husband’s nephew.

The PPSC is the premier educational institution for the human resource development and continuing education of all personnel of the public safety sectors, including the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. It was a post she held for seven years.

She was also undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government incharge of Muslim concerns and foreign grants and presidential assistant for the National School Building Projects tasked to plan and oversee the construction of school buildings in remote, hazardous, and depressed barangays all over the Philippines.

Dr. Cojuangco is a well-published author and columnist of the Philippine Star, one of the major national newspapers. She just recently published an annotated book about the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which she co-authored with Atty. Cader P. Indar. She has written a couple of rare historical books which were products of long years of field research.

Her books about Mindanao and the Muslims are all well quoted in the area of national security. Her books “Northern Woman, Southern Seas” (2007) and “The Samals in History and Legend” (2005) talk about the great histories and stories of and about Maranaos, Samals, and Maguindanaons.

These books put in proper historical and cultural perspectives the security issues besetting Mindanao. The historical accounts which she gathered first hand clarify and correct many of the unfounded bias by Christians against Muslims.

These books help readers to emphatically understand the social, political, economic, and cultural aspirations of the people of Mindanao, particularly Samal and Tausug, including other Muslim tribes and Muslims and indigenous peoples – understanding which is key to achieving lasting peace in Mindanao.

Ting Ting is also active in various civic organizations delivering assistance to less privileged members of our society. She has been director of the Drug Abuse Rehabilitation Foundation and executive director of the Acacia Foundation for Harelip Operation, since 2000 and 2011, respectively.

Datu Pax Mangundadatu, Al Haj, is a Muslim while Dr. Margarita R. Cojuanco is a devout Christian. Their running together already symbolizes Muslim and Christian unity for ARMM governance. Their team represents both religious and gender balance in governance. The two are both educated and experienced in the area of public safety and national security.

Datu Pax has a degree in criminology while Ting Ting has a master's degree in national security administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, which earned her the rank of full colonel in the AFP Reserve Force. Aside from her Doctor of Philosophy in Philippine History, TingTing also finished her Doctorate in Criminology from the Philippine College of Criminology.

It is quite obvious that the two in tandem possess the competency required to effectively govern ARMM and their respective track records in local government shows their serious desire to improve the condition of the people in their respective jurisdictions.

Datu Pax and TingTing are both respected in their respective religious communities. Their sphere of influence is beyond national scope. Their experience and networks of influence will be valuable for the development of ARMM. It is unfortunate though that the people of ARMM lost the opportunity to elect them.

Datu Pax, a Muslim, has been serving a predominantly Christian province of Sultan Kudarat. The good governance that he nurtured in his years of service made him closer to the Christian population.

TingTing, through the years of research and interactions with the Muslims has embraced the culture and learned to love the people of Muslim Mindanao. The trust and the social capital that she has established with the Muslims will serve as her greatest tool to be an effective vice governor of ARMM.