COTABATO CITY – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) acting Gov. Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong has named a Maguindanao officer-in-charge (OIC) vice governor and an ARMM Cabinet member to help him carry out his “enormous tasks” of restoring normalcy in the province and in the regional government.

Shortly after Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno installed him into office Monday, Adiong appointed Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr. as regional DILG secretary, a position the acting ARMM governor held for four years on concurrent capacity.

Lucman, son of the late former Congressman and Lanao Sultan Paramount Rashid Lucman and former Lanao del Sur Gov. Tarhata Alonto, joined Puno in installing to office Nariman Ambolodto at the Maguindanao provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak Tuesday as officer-in-charge vice governor.

Lucman is a graduate of AB Linguistics from the King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia, a Bachelor of Law graduate at the Mindanao State University and a master’s degree holder on environmental governance at the Ateneo De Manila University.

Ambolodto, a Maguindanao senior board member, said she accepted the job as OIC vice governor because she was not running for any elective post in the 2010 polls and, therefore, she would serve Maguindanao sans political color.

As this developed, she appealed for public cooperation, saying her six-month transitional regime will start with the processing of salaries of personnel, whom she tagged as her “necessary partners” in carrying out her taxing job.

Adiong hurriedly issued the appointment of Ambolodto to address what Puno described as “paralysis of governance” in Maguindanao caused by the arrest and indictment of the Ampatuan family members in connection with the November 23 massacre of 57 people including 30 journalists.