BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews / 24 January)—The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) here has received forms bearing 53,495 signatures as part of a people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Lawyer Tristan Niog, city election officer, confirmed to MindaNews in a phone interview on Tuesday that they received a total of 5,767 forms with signatures from 86 barangays of Butuan.
He disclosed that the forms were submitted on January 17 by the Lawyers for Constitutional Change through its representative, Atty. Isha Vallinas.
“This is a substantial number of signatures as it constitutes 23% of the voter population of Butuan. It is significantly higher compared to the required percentage for each congressional district in the people’s initiative, set at only 3%,” he said.
In the 2022 national and local elections, the city had 225,895 registered voters.
Niog said that they issued a certification to confirm that they received the signatures, and submitted them to the clerk at the national office of COMELEC within the day.
“As of now, we have not provided any comments on the forms accuracy or the authenticity of the signatures as it will be in the verification phase, where we will examine these forms and check if the signatures match those of registered voters,” he added.
Regarding the verification process, he noted that they are awaiting directives from the national office.
Niog calls on the voters of Butuan to be careful in signing forms and do it voluntarily amid the issues on signature buying.
This petition is being pushed by groups around the country that seek to amend Article 17, Section 1 of the Constitution, allowing members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to vote jointly during a constituent assembly, which critics said is intended to outnumber the 24 senators against the over 300 members in the House.
The Senate on Tuesday issued a strongly worded resolution condemning the people’s initiative. “”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 future amendments, revisions, or even an overhaul of the entire Constitution,” the manifesto signed by all 24 senators stated.
According to Republic Act 6735, or the “Initiative and Referendum Act,” a constitutional amendment via people’s initiative requires a minimum of 12% of all registered voters’ signatures, including representation from at least 3% of registered voters in each congressional district. (Ivy Marie Mangadlao / MindaNews)