By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Taking its battle against charter change (Cha-Cha) to social media, lawyer Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna on Sunday (28 Jan 2024) called on groups against the people’s initiative (PI) to help disseminate the sample affidavits of withdrawal of signature for registered voters who have changed their minds about moves to revise the 1987 Constitution.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should be allowed to do its job on the PI as the poll body on Friday (January 26) said it had received signatures from more than 1,000 municipalities and cities across the Philippines for the ongoing signature campaign.
The form distributed by Bayan Muna stated: “It is my intention, by filing of this Affidavit of Withdrawal, to WITHDRAW my signature, therefrom, and hereby inform the COMELEC to consider my signature withdrawn from the same.”
Earlier, Comelec chairman George Garcia said the voters were asked in the signature pages if they were in favor of amending Article 17, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution by allowing all members of Congress to jointly vote on proposed constitutional amendments in a constituent assembly.
Article 17 Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution does not explicitly provide whether members of the Senate and the House of Representatives should vote jointly or separately.
Under the 1987 Constitution, amendments can be directly proposed by the people “through initiative upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein, a mode called people’s initiative.”
“These forms will help right a wrong and prove that there is deceit involved in the fake people’s initiative drive. We ask groups opposed to Cha-cha to help facilitate the withdrawal of people and submit this to Comelec,” Colmenares maintained.
(el Amigo/MNM)
