FORMER President Rodrigo Roa Duterte stressed that a presidential appointment certainly cannot overrule a law.
This is in relation to the appointment of Maguindanao del Norte’s governor by President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos, Jr.
“Both of them are operating as acting governors. In fact, both of them are meeting their staff. They are really operating as governors – they have memorandums, address to the employees. They are both operating. The problem is they are operating but no money is going out but they are functioning. Both of them are sitting as acting governors. One is by virtue of the appointment of the president and the other one by virtue of the law,” according to Atty. Salvador ‘Sal’ Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel |SMNI Anchor.
“Stalemate”. This is what former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said in regard to the current situation in Maguindanao del Norte.
The people of the said place are divided between Governor Bai Ainee Sinsuat and OIC Governor Abdulraof Macacua who was appointed by President ‘Bongbong’ Marcos in the month of April.
In his program ‘Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa’ on SMNI Thursday with Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, the former president stressed that a presidential appointment certainly cannot overrule a law. Duterte’s statement is in relation to Republic Act 11550 which states that whoever won the previous local elections in Maguindanao as vice governor will be the temporary acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte.
According to Duterte, President ‘Bongbong’ Marcos’ appointment to OIC Governor Macacua is ‘void ab initio’. This means that it is to be treated as invalid from the onset.
“Attorney Sal, I would direct the statement to the President. You know Mr. President, I do not mean to, I do not have the slightest intention to give you the advice. Get it from your lawyers. I do not have the reason to lecture on you because you are the President of the Philippines and the president is always right. That is a presumption to avoid conflict. Now, if you do not want to follow the president, disagree with the president, you can file the necessary whatever action, pleading or suit in the courts starting from the lower courts up to the Supreme Court.”
“Now between the presidential appointment and a law, the law will always prevail.”
“That’s the law mate. How can you overrule a law by a presidential appointment? You know that even first year law students will tell you that the law should prevail.”
“So now, ask me who has the better right. For me, it’s the people that were mentioned in the law because a presidential appointment cannot certainly overrule a law.”
“They have I think the higher legal, moral ground,” Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte stated.
There are already persons mentioned in the law on who will be the governor
Former President Duterte stressed that before Maguindanao was divided into two provinces, there was already a provision in the law that states who will temporarily govern when Maguindanao del Norte is established. Due to this, there is no need for the president to appoint a governor.
There may be special cases where the president has the privilege to decide by himself, however, this does not include appointing a governor in the said area.
Atty. Panelo once again calls on Gov. Macacua to step down; FPRRD agrees
It can be remembered that Attorney Salvador Panelo recently advised OIC Governor Macacua to step down from his position, to which former President Duterte agreed.
“[Former] honorable president, the reason why I’m asking is because I’m thinking there’s no need to go to court as I heard Hon. Macacua in a video, video, publicly speaking and telling of how he was appointed, and he said, truthfully, he doesn’t want it. Honestly, he said to Sec. Anton and to Sec. Galvez, ‘If you’re going to appoint me, make sure that we are not breaking any laws.’ So when I heard that [statement] about not breaking any laws and that he will not allow it, since the Supreme Court already has a decision which says in the mandamus case that the assumption of acting Governor Sinsuat is valid, assumption ni governor, acting Governor Sinsuat, I was thinking, following his logic and his public pronouncement that he will not allow himself to break the law, I was thinking that he can just voluntarily step down to end the problem and surely, the people of Maguindanao del Norte will applaud him,” Atty Panelo added.
FPPRD to acting Gov. Sinsuat: Take Atty. Panelo as your lawyer
In the end, this was the advice of former President Duterte to the camp of acting Governor Bai Ainee Sinsuat…
“If they are smart, Sal… if they are smart… if they are listening right now… if you are smart, you who’ve been affected… your name is already there in the law as should be accessing the office of what, if you’re smart, take Panelo as your lawyer. You won’t go wrong,” FPRRD stated.
