The Commission on Elections said Filipinos are not required to explain their decision to withdraw from the People’s Initiative petition to amend the 1987 Constitution, the Commission on Elections said.
While the poll body included a line in its withdrawal form for people to list their reasons for taking back their signature, it said leaving it blank will not invalidate the withdrawal.
it is “natural” to ask why a signature is being retracted, adding the reasons given will not be taken against voters withdrawing their signatures.
“It is natural to ask why they are withdrawing their signature. But it is not mandatory for them to list their reasons,” Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said.
He said answers in the withdrawal form can help Comelec substantiate accusations hounding the people’s initiative, including bribery.
Aside from the reason for taking back their signature to the PI petition, other details asked for in the withdrawal form are the person’s name, address, and precinct number.
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.
In a separate interview, Noel Oñate of the PIRMA group pushing for the people’s initiative said they will continue to gather signatures for safekeeping until the Comelec issues a new resolution to revive the process.
As this developed, Lanao del Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong urged the Senate to halt its probe on the people’s initiative.
“With now three hearings under their belt having proven essentially nothing, the Senate must now face the music and drop their pointless witch hunt on the people’s initiative for amending the Constitution,” he said.
More importantly, Adiong said senators should focus all their time and effort in passing Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6, which would facilitate economic Charter change as endorsed by President Marcos himself.
“The Senate has had three hearings here but until now, there is still no witness who says they were paid in exchange for their signature. The senators’ witnesses themselves admitted that they did not receive any bribe in this process,” he said.
“Our time is running out to pass RBH No. 6 by the Senate deadline of March this year. Is the Senate willing to embarrass President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with its hard-headed approach on constitutional revision? Answer they just do it to find out that the hurtful and sharp statements are correct,” Adiong said.
