COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Incumbent elected and co-terminous officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Tuesday said they would abide by their long-standing pledge to turnover leadership smoothly to incoming ARMM caretakers to break the past flimsy traditions bereft of formal change guards.

But they quickly added that such smooth turnover would only happen if the officers-in-charge (OICs) reportedly appointed and sworn into office Monday by the President are clothed with an authority from the Supreme Court (SC), which has yet to decide with finality the constitutionality of Republic Act (RA) 10153, the law that deferred the 2011 ARMM polls and allows President Aquino to appoint OICs.

“We have long constituted a transition committee to smoothly turnover to incoming OICs and are ready to bequeath them governance with all its assets intact. We welcome the OICs as long as they have the authority from the Supreme Court. We want a smooth turnover, not a forceful takeover,” ARMM Education Secretary Baratucal Caudang said.

Caudang, a lawyer and former dean of the College of Law of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, pointed out that allowing an unauthorized takeover of ARMM leadership would set a “bad precedent.”

Besides, he said, the assuming OICs would be culpable of usurpation of power, malverzation in disbursing funds, if the Supreme Court would later decide favorably motions for reconsideration (MRs) pending it.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal opined that without resolution from the High Tribunal, the takeover of former Party-list Representative Mujiv Hataman and Bainon Karon, both appointed OICs for governor and vice governor, respectively, would be a disregard of law.

The Supreme Court needs to decide first the pending MRs before the question of change guard in ARMM can take place under due process, Macalintal told the Manila Bulletin in an interview over the phone Tuesday.

He advised stakeholders notably the ARMM incumbents to file motion for intervention before the Supreme Court and seek clarification on the scheduled takeover of the OICs on December 22 or 23.

Meanwhile, leaders of Camp Jabalnur of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) said the naming of Hataman as OIC-governor also disregard a standing agreement among the MNLF, the Philippine government, and the Organization of Islamic Conference that prescribes thorough consultation among the three parties in regard to reforming ARMM and in implementing fully the 1996 peace pact.

“Besides, it (Hataman appointment) is prejudicial and preemptive of decision from the Supreme Court,” MNLF-Jabalnur Deputy Secretary General and Spokesman Dino Dimalutang said.

Reports said Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo would escort Hataman and other OICs to takeover on December 22 or 23.

Robredo furnished Monday the office of the ARMM governor a copy of Hataman’s appointment and a memorandum from him compelling the incumbent regional officials to “cease and desist” from reporting to office effective the date of the scheduled turnover.

Church leaders here, meanwhile, said the planned takeover of the OICs in ARMM was untimely during the current Yuletide Season where people are supposed to promote love, reconciliation, and unity.

“The move is susceptible to legal and moral questions. The legal impediment is the lack of SC resolution, while the moral question is the conduct of the takeover in a period of joy, love and understanding. We see no essence of ‘tuwid na daan’ in solving a problem with a wrong step,” a local parish priest said on condition of anonymity.