A Moro solon's proposal to abolish the 20-year-old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Saturday got support and opposition from Muslim political leaders.

Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo made the bold proposal the other day during a media forum in Quezon City.

Director Diamadel Dumagay of the ARMM's Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO), said the regional government has more or less 10,000 employees, plus some 19,000 teachers.

House Deputy Speaker Simeon Datumanong, former ARMM Regional Assembly (RA) speaker Paisalin Tago, Mindanao State University (MSU) Prof. Salipada Tamano opposed the proposal of Dimaporo.

Sulu Gov. Hajji Abdusakur Tan supports the abolition of ARMM if it is done through the Constitution.

But incumbent executives and legal luminaries of the ARMM ridiculed an earlier expressed call by Dimaporo for the ARMM abolition of ARMM, saying the Maranao solon was “wasting effort on a wrong advocacy at a wrong time.”

“We already have enough confusion spawned by the Maguindanao massacre and its resultant martial law declaration. Compounding this situation with a far- fetched is uncalled for,” a lawyer holding an executive position in the ARMM told the newsmen in Cotabato City.

The official, who asked not to be named to void “further complication,” said Rep. Dimaporo was “wasting effort on a wrong advocacy at a wrong time” in campaigning for the abolition of ARMM.

Another lawyer also holding an ARMM executive position said Rep. Dimaporo could be in better perspective finding solutions to the problems gripping his own turf, such as the devastations wrought by past armed clashes between Moro rebels and government troops in the northern province.

Relatives of Vice Governor Ansaruddin Adiong, whom DILG Sec. Ronaldo Puno installed Thursday as successor of detained Regional Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, said the ARMM, while still beset with grey areas in structure and operations, has done something in uplifting the plight of its constituents.

“We should get together, set aside the lapses in the ARMM operations and improve its remaining potentials to bring the region to greater heights,” Lanao del Sur Mamintal Al. Adiong Jr., elder brother of the acting governor, said.

One of Dimaporo's reasons for wanting to abolish the autonomous government, created under President Cory Aquino's regime in 1989, was because of its being "exclusive" to Muslims.

Dimaporo, however, did not say how the thousands of ARMM personnel would get new jobs if he gets his wish.

ARMM is composed of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi and the city of Marawi.

Tan said the ARMM makes civil servants' life difficult, the policemen, teachers, health and the residents.

"(If) it is a constitutional mandate, I would gladly support it (abolition) as it has only become an added layer of bureaucracy... I hope it would be ASAP (as soon as possible)," the Sulu chief executive said.

Datumanong said: "The ARMM was created as mandated by the Constitution for an important purpose. What must be done is to review it and introduce some safe guards."

Tago believes the ARMM is not naturally bad.

"What our Muslim leaders should do is to make a reform in the Organic Act (that created ARMM). They should instead strengthen the ARMM," said Tago.

"Let us not blame the institution for the mess that is going on, but rather let us look at the leaders composing the institution," Tago added.

For Tamano, the ARMM populace needs to fine tune their selection of leaders. "The ARMM is a product of the Bangsamoro struggle. What is needed is to continuously improve it and for the regional voters to elect better leaders," said Tamano, a former regional secretary of the ARMM's Department of Education (DepEd).

He said he is not supportive of the proposal to abolish the ARMM.