COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Despite a Supreme Court ruling signaling a momentary status quo, current elected and coterminous officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao still brace for a smooth turnover of leadership to prospective caretakers to be named by the President to run the ARMM affairs until 2013.

This was gleaned from several letters signed by Acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin A. Adiong inviting different personalities to a “recognition night” set here on September 28 to pay tribute to their respective assistance and contributions to his 18-month administration.

“The term of the current regional leadership…will end on September 30, 2011. Thereafter, we will be turning over the reign of the regional leadership to incoming officials to be appointed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines,” Adiong said in his letters.

In the same letter, Adiong admitted that his “assumption into office in December 2009 came at the most challenging period in the history of ARMM.”

“Today, we can proudly claim that we have made significant inroads in instituting reforms in the regional government, and in the process, regaining back the trust of our constituencies as well as the international donor community,” he said.

He said they “could not have done a much better job in such a challenging environment without the support of strategic partners” in public and private sectors including the media.

Adiong said the “recognition night” will be held on Sept. 28 at the ARMM’s Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center here to “honor and express our deepest gratitude to our partners who have shared their valuable time, resources, and expertise in various ways and manners.”

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said some foreign donor agencies of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Asian countries led by the World Bank, the Australian Agency for International Development and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will also be honored on the same night.

After providing “satisfactory” and “remarkable” ratings on the present ARMM administration’s performance, the World Bank, JICA, AusAID, Executive Board of UN volunteer agencies expanded their respective programs in the autonomous region with unprecedented magnitude of financial allocations for this year and beyond, Sinarimbo said.

The interventions of foreign donor institutions have been “very imperative” in the operations of the Adiong administration, especially in the face limited power and subsidies devolved from the national government, he said.

Sinarimbo said the “recognition night” was conceived after the formation of the ARMM transition committee tasked to ensure a smooth turnover of command from the Adiong regime to incoming officers-in-charge (OICs) to be installed by the President after Sept. 30, the end of the incumbent elected officials’ term of office.

Last Sept. 13, the Supreme Court on petition by some concerned groups issued a temporary restraining order halting the implementation of R.A. 10153, the law that deferred to 2013 the August 8, 2011 elections and empowered the President to appoint OICs for 21 months.

The TRO allows the incumbent ARMM officials to continue serving on holdover capacity in the event the SC fails to resolve the petitions before Sept. 30.

Sinarimbo said the conduct of the “recognition night” is not tied to the TRO because we would still award “partner agencies” with or without the leadership turnover.

Meanwhile, in commemoration of the 111th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) awarded yesterday Top Outstanding Public Servants (TOPS) and Regional Outstanding Lady Executives (ROLE) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).