Comelec distributes withdrawal forms for People’s Initiative

The Commission on Elections has approved the distribution of “withdrawal forms” to registered voters who wish to remove their signatures from the people’s initiative petition to change the 1987 Constitution.In a memo, the poll body said the withdrawal form was adopted during a referendum on Feb. 14.Comelec in its memo also directed its Education and Information Department to disseminate the information “while clarifying that the acceptance of withdrawal forms shall not be construed as formal action by the Commission on the signature sheets/petition for People’s Initiative.”Among the details asked for in the withdrawal form are the person’s name, address, precinct number, and reason for taking back their signature to the PI petition.Last month, the Comelec suspended all proceedings concerning the people’s initiative for Charter change to avoid “problems, chaos and misunderstandings.”The people’s initiative proposes that the two chambers of Congress should vote jointly, not separately, on any Charter change proposal.Earlier, Comelec said it cannot hold a plebiscite next year to amend the 1987 Constitution given that there are already two scheduled polls in 2025.“You cannot squeeze in a plebiscite in the middle of an election. Even prior to 2025, you cannot do that… And we cannot divert any of the funds in the possession of Comelec. That is contained in the General Appropriation Act,” Comelec chairman George Garcia said.The poll body, he said, is preparing for the May 2025 midterm elections and the December 2025 barangay elections.Efforts to amend the Charter through a people’s initiative, constitutional convention, or a constituent assembly would culminate in a plebiscite.Garcia, however, cited a Supreme Court ruling, which states that the Comelec “cannot include a plebiscite for the amendment of the constitution on a regular election.”