Armm polls deferment "most practical" solution-Adiong- Business.com.ph /Bong Fabe

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—"It is the most practical alternative  that the national government can adopt."

This was the categorical statement of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Acting  Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong in supporting the calls to postpone the 2011 ARMM elections scheduled in August.

Adiong said issues related to the history of election violence and failures and  on the ongoing peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic  Liberation Front (MILF) as well as the government, Organization of Islamic  Conference (OIC) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Tripartite Review of  the 1996 Final Peace Agreement should be fully resolved first before the elections arer held.

Continuing with the elections will "only complicate unsolved social issues" such as the  absence of a negotiated political settlement with the MILF, aside from  worsening the conduct of the polls, he said.

But Maguindanao Rep. Simeon  Datumanong, former Deputy Speaker for Mindanao and Justice secretary, questioned moves to postpone the ARMM elections.

Datumanong said it is specifically stated in Republic Act 9333 that "elections are to be  held in the second Monday of August every three  years."

Postponing  the elections, Adiong said, will prevent political violence from erupting in  the ARMM where families and clans are dragged into  feuds (locally called rido) that go on for countless years.

During  the May 2010, national and local elections, eight towns in Lanao del Sur and two  towns in Basilan declared failures of election. Four months later, in what many  believe is election-related, a former mayor of Tugaya, Lanao del Sur was killed  in an ambush. On November 20, 2010, the  vice-mayor of Barira, Maguindanao was gunned down in Davao City. His death is also widely believed as connected to  the recently conducted SK and barangay elections