And Malacañang’s worst fear has happened.

Which is often the case when things are rushed and not thought out well.

It is a universal rule that when the resolution of an issue or a question is pending before a deciding authority, all parties must observe the status quo.

This means all sides must refrain from proceeding with further action while the case remains unresolved.

What were the lawyers of Malacañang thinking when they decided to go ahead with the appointment of officers in charge of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao? That they can get away with the caper?   

And so, it learned its lesson the hard way -- again.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped the Palace from appointing the ARMM  OICs until it has resolved the petitions challenging the law that postponed the Aug. 8, 2011 elections there and synchronized them with the national polls in 2013.

Voting 8-4, the High Court issued a temporary restraining order preventing President Aquino from appointing a regional governor, a vice governor, and the members of the regional legislative assembly in the autonomous region.

The SC’s new order is the latest legal setback for the Aquino administration. In December 2010 the High Tribunal  ruled that the Truth Commission that P-Noy had created to investigate the anomalies in the Arroyo administration was unconstitutional.

SC spokesman and Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said the order would be in effect until the High Tribunal resolved the consolidated petitions of House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Datu Michael Kida of the Maguindanao Federation of Autonomous Irrigators Association and Basari Mapupuno, veteran poll lawyer Romulo Macalintal, and former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. against the administration-backed law that postponed the elections.

“What is issued is just a (temporary restraining order) while the Court is deciding on the merits of the case, so that its decision will not be rendered moot,” he said.

A majority of the justices believed issuing a TRO before any officers-in-charge were appointed would avoid confusion.

If the petitions were not resolved before September 30, the incumbent ARMM officials would stay in a holdover capacity until their successors were elected, the High Court said.

The President was supposed to announce the OICs for ARMM governor and vice governor before leaving for the United States next week.

He said he had four questions to ask the SC over its order, including whether it was happy with the situation in the autonomous region and with a Commission on Audit report that 80 percent of the funds meant for the region was missing.

“We need to end the system of abuses that appears to have become part of the ARMM culture,” P-Noy was quoted by a broadsheet as saying. “This is why we have envisioned our OICs to focus on reforms: real hospitals, real service, and not ghost projects and milking cows.”

Marquez said only 12 justices participated in the deliberation for the order stopping the appointment of OICs.