THE appointment of President ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. to the governor of Maguindanao del Norte is illegal according to former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
“To me, the appointment is illegal.”
“Now, if the President appointed [the governor], it’s wrong. He is going against the law,” according to Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Former President of the Republic of the Philippines.
This was the response of former President Rodrigo Duterte in his program ‘Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa’ on SMNI with Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy on Tuesday.
This statement is in response to a question by former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, Atty. Salvador Panelo regarding the controversial issue in Maguindanao del Norte where there are two governors – acting Governor Bai Ainee Sinsuat and Governor Abdulraof Macacua who was appointed by the president – but despite this, the said place has no treasurer.
It can be remembered that Maguindanao was divided into two provinces– Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur – under the Republic Act (R.A.) 11550. Section 50 of the said law states that whoever wins the past Maguindanao local elections as vice-governor shall be the temporary acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte.
“The law clearly states that these two – the acting governor and vice governor – will be acting their positions until their successors are elected and qualified. That is what is stated in the law. But what happened, when acting Governor Bai Ainee Sinsuat assumed as governor, she recommended her treasurer to the BLGF – Bureau of Local Government Finance, it was not recognized because the lawyers of the government gave their opinion saying that the RA 11550 is not applicable. According to them, the law states that it can only happen when the plebiscite takes place before the election. However, it took place after the election so it is not applicable. That is why they refuse to recognize the treasurer and effectively, they don’t want to recognize the acting governor,” according to Atty. Salvador ‘Sal’ Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel | SMNI Anchor.
The Supreme Court says that Bai Ainee Sinsuat’s assuming the position of acting governor is valid. However, this is not being recognized by the government.
Atty. Panelo stressed that the current situation in Maguindanao del Norte has been a big problem because numerous members of the public have reached out to the former chief presidential legal counsel on his program ‘Problema N’yo, Itawag Kay Panelo’ on SMNI. Many are asking for help as there is no delivery of basic services in the said area– no funds are being utilized and employees of the government of Maguindanao del Norte have not been paid for months.
Atty. Panelo calls on Governor Macacua to voluntarily step down
This prompted the following call of Atty. Panelo.
“So my advice to the appointed acting OIC Hon. Macacua, since the law is clear and the Supreme Court has made its decision, I’m hoping he steps down voluntarily to avoid embarrassing the president. I cannot blame the president because he was advised by his lawyers and he is not a lawyer himself. In other words, he was in good faith but he was in the wrong. The appointment, with all due respect to the lawyers in government, is null and void at the inception because there has been no vacancy [in position]. Otherwise, if he does not wish to step down from his position voluntarily then I’m hoping President Marcos Jr. will recall [his decision]. There is nothing wrong in admitting to a mistake when the advice given by lawyers is wrong,” Atty. Panelo added.
FPRRD: Don’t prolong the agony of the people
Meanwhile, it can be remembered that Duterte made the following call in one of the previous episodes of ‘Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa’.
“Do not prolong the agony because you can do something about it if you really want to,” Duterte stated.
