By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Smelling something fishy, ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro on Monday said she wants the “shadowy” People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA) to face the House of Representatives where they get their funding for pushing charter change (Cha-Cha) via people’s initiative or PI.

Castro made the statement on the heels of House Resolution 1541 filed by the Makabayan bloc lawmakers urging the House of Representatives to investigate claims of alleged “signature buying” in the ongoing campaign for Cha-Cha through PI which is valid if it has the signatures of three (3) percent of the voters of each of the country’s legislative districts and 12 percent of all the voters nationwide.

“Kailangan i-open nila. Sinasabi nila sa mga private individual entities na nagsusulong ng pagbabago ng Constitution [sila kumukuha ng pondo] so kailangan nilang sabihin yun para malaman ng taumbayan na hindi government ang ginagamit nila,” Castro said.

It was gathered that PIRMA came out last week to be behind the TV advertisement seeking to stir discussion on Cha-Cha via PI.

“The ongoing signature-buying and the paid advertisement seem to be part of a coordinated effort to force and railroad the amendment of the 1987 Constitution,” Makabayan bloc’s HR 1541 noted.

Earlier, Liberal Party (LP) president and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman claimed that some funds were mobilized to kick off the Cha-Cha petition.

Prominent sociologist Randy David, however, expressed doubt that either President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. or his cousin Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez was behind the “EDSA-pwera” commercial for charter change (Cha-Cha) that began airing on primetime television last week.

“I doubt that President Marcos or his first cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez would wish to premise a productive discussion on Charter change on the supposed failures of Edsa. They are back in power; the last thing they need is to open old wounds and awaken dormant animosities. That advertisement does them a disservice; I don’t believe they’re behind it,” David wrote in his January 14 column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

(el Amigo/MNM)