PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. has appointed former Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) chief Abdulraof Macacua and former Maguindanao vice governor Fatima Ainee Sinsuat as governor and vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte, respectively.
The province of Maguindanao was split into two distinct and independent provinces under Republic Act No. 11550, which was signed on May 2021 by former President Duterte. The two new provinces are now Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.
Marcos in April this year designated Macacua and Sinsuat as officers-in charge or acting governor and acting vice governor, respectively, of Maguindanao del Norte pending the election of local government officials of the new province.
Their appointments were made amid calls for the President to intervene and solve the political confusion on who should lead Maguindanao del Norte.
It was not clear in the statement released by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) if the appointments of Macacua and Sinsuat are already permanent or still in acting capacity.
The posts of governor and vice governor are elective positions.
Under the transitory provision of RA 11550, if the law was “approved and ratified within six (6) months or more prior to the 2022 national and local elections, the vice governor and the next ranking elective member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the present province of Maguindanao, who are residents of the new Maguindanao del Norte shall assume as its acting governor and acting vice governor, respectively, and both shall continue to serve in office until their successors shall have been elected and qualified in the 2022 national and local elections”.
It likewise states that the President shall only appoint and fill vacant positions in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan “from among the qualified residents of the new province of Maguindanao del Norte and upon the recommendation of the acting provincial governor and the incumbent representatives of the First Legislative District of the present province of Maguindanao, in consultation with, and with the consensus of the local elders and political leaders.”
It added that “the incumbent elected members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan from the First Legislative District of the province of Maguindanao shall have the right to retain their respective positions and finish their term of office in the new province of Maguindanao del Norte without need of appointment.”
In a phone interview, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said the appointment of Macacua and Sinsuat has become necessary since the plebiscite splitting Maguindanao into two provinces happened after the May 2022 polls.
“Since the plebiscite happened after the May 2022 elections, the vacancies will have to be filled up in accordance with the Administrative Code and the Local Government Code,” Garcia explained.
He added that if the plebiscite creating Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur took place before the May 2022 polls, the new set of local officials would have already been elected simultaneously with the national elections.
“Their officials were supposed to be elected had the plebiscite took place before the elections in 2022,” said Garcia.
Section 50 of RA 11550 provides that elective officials of the newly created provinces shall be elected during the May 2022 national and local elections.
The Comelec, however, was able to hold the Maguindanao plebiscite only in September 2022, wherein 99.27 percent of the voters approved the splitting of the province.
Aside from Macacua and Sinsuat, the PCO said the President has also appointed Datu Rommel S. Sinsuat, Alexa Ashley P. Tomawis, Abdulnasser M. Abas, and Mashur A. Biruar as members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Maguindanao del Norte. — With Gerard Naval
