Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno did a good job in restoring normalcy in the province of Maguindanao and the ARMM as he went personally to the troubled province even before the martial law was declared appointing new officials to the province and ARMM that the arrested Ampatuans left vacant.

Ronnie Puno’s vast experience as the Interior Secretary made the job very easy for him, proposing changes in the local government setup.

One of his proposal is to deprive mayors and governors of the right to choose their police chiefs and just have Camp Crame assign officers to towns, cities and provinces without consulting local officials.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno that he wants the commision formed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to review Executive Order 546, which authorizes the creation of private armed groups such as Civilian Volunteer Organizations or CVOs and Special Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary (SCAAs).

Puno said that these groups often end up as private armies of some politicians. He also added that the government has already taken steps to control private armies such as the proclamation of a firearms amnesty and limiting the bodyguards of politicians to 2 uniformed personnel.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave full supervision of Maguindanao to DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno while martial law is in effect.

Sec. Ronnie Puno clarified in a radio interview that local government units would still have to be led by elected local officials, not “military mayors.”

“We will abide by the rule on succession. If the mayor is not available, the vice-mayor [will take charge] and then down the line,” he said.

Martial Law has been declared in the province of Maguindanao today, suspendeding the writ of habeas corpus in the province except “for certain areas,” enabling the military to make arrests without court intervention.

DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno ordered the creation of a task force to ssist him in exercising his powers of general supervision over the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which includes the conduct of financial reviews and making sure that the functions of the local chief executives in the area are performed in accordance with the law.

Sec. Ronnie Puno also ordered ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan to submit copies of the reports he had submitted to the Office of the President regarding the use of funds and financial assistance released to the region from the fourth quarter of 2008 up to the present.