Enough signatures collected — Albay solon
BY RAYMOND AFRICA, WENDELL VIGILIA
and GERARD NAVAL
THE Senate has suspended its deliberations on Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 proposing amendments to economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution through a constituent assembly (con-ass) due to the continuing push for a people’s initiative (PI), which is widely believed to be an initiative of the House of Representatives, according to Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III.
This was confirmed by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, who said RBH No. 6 has been “sidelined” by the continued “push for the PI.”
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the Senate move is too late to stop Charter change since the PI signature campaign has already collected enough signatures despite the upper chamber’s strong opposition.
Salceda told reporters that PI proponents have already gathered the support of at least three percent of voters in each congressional district and a minimum of 12 percent nationwide.
“As of last night, we’ve reached the 12.1 (percent) threshold,” Salceda said. “The Constitution is really alive. If they thought the 12 percent is hard to achieve, there are district like mine which got 20 percent, some 30 percent. The issue now is what’s really good for the Philippines.”
The administration lawmaker, who chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means, said the petition to allow Congress to vote jointly on any proposed amendments is now being finalized and would soon be filed by PI organizers.
“Well, talagang inaayos lang (it’s just being organized). Of course, the request for validation by the Comelec (Commission on Elections) is the necessary next step,” he said.
Noel Oñate, lead convenor of the People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA), said its signature drive continues to gain momentum less than a month since it started.
Oñate said they are confident PIRMA can complete the required number of signatures for the PI by April.
“All I can say is that the PI is gaining ground. Our coordinators are reporting that there are about 15 to 20 percent in some districts. We are confident we can meet the 3 percent per congressional district and 12 percent overall nationwide. And it could even be more than that,” said Oñate in a media forum.
“I think, within the next two to three months, we can already meet our target number of signatures nationwide,” he added.
Oñate said they are targeting to gather some 8 million signatures nationwide as it is 12 percent of the 67 million registered voters. “So far, we have gathered 30 percent of 8 million. So that is about 2.5 million signatures already,” he said.
‘SUSPENDED’
Pimentel, in a text message to reporters, said: “RBH 6 of the Senate is suspended… because the PI is apparently continuing and reports are ‘congressmen are behind it,’ hence, our question is: Why are congressmen in effect pursuing two modes? There is bad faith somewhere.”
Angara, who was earlier named by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to head a subcommittee of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes to spearhead the chamber’s Cha-cha discussions, said: “It’s clear that the people’s initiative is not a genuine people’s initiative. As for RBH No. 6, it’s been sidelined, hopefully just momentarily.”
Angara said the subcommittee has yet to be created as it was “sidetracked by (the) continuance of PI.”
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said the conflicting positions of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the PI campaign “might lead to a constitutional crisis as both houses are head-on on the issue of PI.”
“Was hoping that both leaders (of Congress) honor the agreement in front of PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos) to avert such scenario,” Ejercito said.
Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. appealed to both chamber of Congress to settle their differences at the soonest possible time so they can all buckle down to work.
“We can discuss these matters as statesmen while fulfilling our duties to the people,” Revilla said.
On Tuesday, Zubiri and all 23 senators signed a manifesto rejecting the House’s PI campaign.
“The so-called people’s initiative proposes only one change: in acting as constituent assembly, the Senate and the House shall vote jointly. While it seems simple, the goal is apparent — to make it easier to revise the Constitution by eliminating the Senate from the equation. It is an obvious prelude to further amendments, revisions, or even an overhaul of our entire Constitution,” Zubiri said as he read the manifesto during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Oñate belied allegations that politicians are behind the PI bid for Charter change.
“This PI is from the private sector, a civilian undertaking. The participation of congressmen are only administrative because we have to coordinate with them since we need three percent per congressional district,” he said.
SUFFICIENT SIGNATURES
Salceda urged the Comelec to validate the collected signatures in the ongoing people’s initiative, particularly in light of the Senate’s opposition to the initiative, saying “we have reached the point of no return.”
The people’s initiative, which calls for joint voting of the Senate and the House in “future attempts to change the Constitution” has been subjected to allegations of bribery as there were reports that some signatories were offered P100 each.
Salceda last week confirmed that proponents are eyeing the conduct of a plebiscite for the initiative to amend the Constitution by July since the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2025 midterm elections is set in October.
Rep. Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan), a member of the Makabayan bloc, has said that the plan for the PI signature drive started as early as December 15, 2023 and the target plebiscite is intended to be finished by June 17 so that the results would be known by July 8, right before the President’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Salceda brushed off the Senate’s manifesto against the PI campaign, saying it is the Filipino people who should prevail and not the 24 senators who fear that their vote will be overshadowed by the more than 300 congressmen once they vote jointly.
“Ultimately, over and above the House of Representatives and the Senate, the people are supreme and sovereign. The people’s initiative is a valid mode of amending the Constitution. Neither the Senate nor the House can deny this,” he said.
“Bakit kayo takot sa tao? E ang gagaling naman ninyo. ‘Di ba 24 kayo? Nagkaisa kayo e ‘di makukumbinsi niyo ‘yung tao magboto ng ‘no’ (Why are you afraid of the people when all of you are good? You’re 24, right? You’re united so convince people to vote ‘no’ (in the plebiscite),” he added, stressing that senators should not be allowed to “trump the voice of the 12 percent of the population.”
Salceda said senators have a very low regard for the people who support the Charter reform petition if the PI, for them, means “politicians’ initiative.”
He also laughed off and rejected claims of bribery and other unlawful activities in the current signature drive for a people’s initiative to amend the Charter, asserting with conviction that Filipinos are discerning individuals who cannot be fooled or easily swayed.
Salceda insisted that PI remains the most viable method for amending the Constitution, as other avenues, such as constituent assembly and constitutional convention, have all been rejected by the Senate in the past.
Salceda highlighted that a total of 358 bills were filed in Congress to change the 36-year-old Charter and not even one succeeded.
“Isang beses lang ang umusad noong 12th Congress at naipasok sa plenary for sponsorship and that’s it (It only moved once in the 12th Congress when it reached the plenary for sponsorship and that’s it),” he said.
Cagayan De Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said senators “have put themselves in a problematic situation for which they have only themselves to blame.”
“They have consistently ignored the people’s clamor for Charter reform voiced through their elected district representatives until the people decided to take matters into their own hands,” he said.
Rodriguez said the House and the Senate can finish Charter reforms before the Holy Week recess of Congress in March if the Senate is still interested in pushing for RBH No. 6.
“We welcome the change of heart on the part of our senators on Charter change. If they are serious, we should target to conclude this effort, which the House has been advocating since the 8th Congress, before we go on our Holy Week break on March 23,” he said.
He said it is important that the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution be tweaked in a manner that would attract foreign investments, which in turn would create more job and income opportunities for Filipinos.
“Instead of wasting their time on seeing and fearing ghosts and no-el (no elections) scenarios where there are none in the ongoing people’s initiative, senators should work with us on changes in the economic provisions. That may ease the pressure from our people for them to act on Charter reform,” he said.
‘MINISTERIAL DUTY’
Pimentel said the Senate will question the legality of the “ministerial duty” which Elections chairman George Garcia cited in justifying the poll body’s receipt of signature sheets for the PI.
He said the chamber can either address its question directly to the Comelec or the Supreme Court and ask it to stop poll body from performing such ministerial duty.
The Comelec on Tuesday said only a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the High Court can stop it from accepting the signed forms for PI after elections lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Monday urged it to stop accepting the signature sheets.
Pimentel said there is a “justiciable controversy” for the Senate to charge Comelec for accepting the signed forms for PI.
“Why do they even have this ministerial duty? They don’t even know who they owe this alleged duty to. And for what purpose?” Pimentel said.
He said if this will be addressed to the Comelec, the Senate will ask it to stop “what they are doing.”
On the other hand, if the Senate decides to run to the SC, it will ask the court to prohibit the poll body from continuing what it is doing “under their justification of a ministerial duty.”
Pimentel manifested during the Senate’s Tuesday plenary session that senators “can act politically by calling on the people not to sign and for those who have signed to withdraw their signatures.”
He also questioned the Comelec’s excuse that it was their duty to receive the signature sheets. “Based on what? On a law characterized by the Supreme Court as insufficient to support the PI?” he asked.
Zubiri, responding to Pimentel’s call to raise the issue to the SC, said: “We’ll be filing this together.”
Garcia welcomed the potential legal challenge on its PI guidelines.
“For those who think that our guidelines are wrong, that our ministerial act to receive signature sheets are wrong, it is easy to question our guidelines and rules that was promulgated back in 2020,” said Garcia.
For the moment, the poll chief said they will just continue to perform their mandate as provided under their guidelines.
This, Garcia said, is despite the Comelec not wanting to have additional work since they should just be focusing on their preparations for the May 2025 polls.
“At this point, the Comelec people will proceed and continue to receive signature forms nationwide because it is our mandate and ministerial duty,” he said adding: “The Comelec will always follow the rules and the law and the guidelines that we have until we are prohibited from following our guidelines.”
As of the latest count, the Comelec has already received signature sheets in 998 cities and municipalities covering 184 legislative districts nationwide.
TIGHT PLEBISCITE WINDOW
Once the poll body gains jurisdiction on the PI, Garcia said a favorable ruling will result to the setting of a nationwide plebiscite.
But Garcia said the plebiscite cannot be held during the last quarter of 2024 and for the entirety of 2025 due to the proximity of the midterm elections and the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
“October, November, December, we cannot do that. For the entire year of 2025, we cannot do the plebiscite since we are at the peak of our preparations. It will likely be held by 2026,” said Garcia in a media forum.
He said that the only way a plebiscite can be held this year is if a petition is filed this month.
“If they are able to file the petition this January, we may be able to do it by September…
Had the petition been filed in the 1st week of January, we could be able to do it by August,” said Garcia.
He explained that the process for PI petitions is tedious as it will have to go through several steps, including a proper determination of the Comelec en banc of its sufficiency in form and substance and the verification of the signatures.
Garcia also stressed that the Comelec will also have to procure the necessary paraphernalia to be used during the plebiscite, if there will be any.
“The fastest we can do it (preparations) is five months. It still depends if they are able to meet the required signatures,” said Garcia.
Comelec Executive Director Teopisto Elnas Jr. echoed Garcia and said that if PI proponents want the plebiscite held this year, it has to be undertaken before October, possibly between August and September, since the Comelec will be at the thick of preparations for the midterm elections.
He said the poll body will start work on the technical side of customization which entails the loading of vote counting machines, mock elections, conducting field tests and other technical preparations “As of now, preparations would not be derailed and the manpower and the focus of the Commission would not be split into two. Because we are still in the bidding process (for vote counting machines and other paraphernalia). But in case plebiscites would be held at the tail end of this year – third and last quarter of 2024, I hope we do not have one because by October because we will then start with the filing of certificates of candidacy,” Elnas told the House Committee on Suffrage in a briefing last Monday.
PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTION
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman urged President Marcos Jr. to mediate between the House and the Senate, saying the Cha-cha has pushed the two houses of Congress “into a confrontation which is divisive and disruptive.”
“President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. must broker a solution to diffuse the impending impasse in order that the executive and legislative departments can truly focus on the overriding crises in the economy, food security, escalating prices of basic commodities, miseducation, ballooning debt stock and debt servicing, and the continuing aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
Lagman said the 1987 Constitution is “blameless for these continuing crises which are due to flawed policies, skewed implementation of laws, continuing official corruption, and lack of stability and predictability of government policies.”
“The question on whether a constituent assembly must vote jointly or separately must be resolved by the Supreme Court in a proper case and must not be construed by partisans who have ulterior motives on the voting procedure by the constituent assembly,” he said.
‘INSULATED’
Garcia yesterday said it his personal opinion that barangay officials shouldn’t be involved in the efforts to gather as many signatures of registered voters as possible for the PI drive.
“Personally, if I were to be asked, barangay officials should be prohibited from meddling in these activities,” said Garcia. “If it is just up to me as head of the Commission, we will not allow them to interfere with the people,” he added.
He said the inhibition of barangay officials inhibit will prove that the people’s initiative will be identified with the public, and not government officials.
“This will prove that it is really in accordance with the sentiments of the people. This will show that the people really back the proposals and not because of any pressures,” he said.