MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections may have to temporarily pause its voter registration for the 2025 midterm elections to allow its election officers to sift through the signatures collected in the People’s Initiative seeking to change the Charter.
Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that the poll body has yet to begin its verification process of the ongoing People’s Initiative signature drive to change the 1987 Constitution as the signature pages need to be submitted and certified first.
But if the People’s Initiative campaign “pushes through,” the poll body could pause its voter registration to give way to the verification of signatures as there is only one election officer per municipality and city, Laudiangco said in an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo on Friday.
Laudiangco said that about 630 municipalities and cities nationwide have already submitted their signature pages supporting Charter change. “Our election officers in nearly all segments have received signature pages. This is spread out across the country,” Laudiangco said in Filipino.
But the Comelec officer explained that there are still several steps before the poll body can start verifying the signatures.
After the submission of signature pages, the Comelec will certify these with the total number of signatures collected, Laudiangco said.
Once those behind the People’s Initiative campaign submit a petition, Laudiangco said, the Comelec will assess whether the submission is “sufficient in form and substance.”
This means that the poll body will assess the correctness of the details in the petition, whether it has jurisdiction, and whether the total number of signatures complies with the requirement of having at least 12% of the total registered voters in the country and each legislative district is represented by at least 3% of their registered voters.
Only after the Comelec has approved the petition can election officers proceed to verification, Laudiangco said.
“We check if the person is real, if they are an active and registered voter, and we will compare their signature with our records,” the Comelec official added.
While Laudiangco said that the Comelec will have to carry out all tasks under its mandate as part of its constitutional duty, the voter registration process may need to be halted to allow each election officer to verify the signatures.
The Comelec official also said that the conduct of the People’s Initiative campaign comes just in time as the poll body can cross-check the signatures with the information of those who will register as voters.
Minority lawmakers at the House of Representatives have called on the poll body to ensure the authenticity of the signatures collected in the People’s Initiative campaign amid allegations of widespread vote-buying.
The Comelec is expecting three million new registered voters ahead of the May 2025 midterm elections, bringing the total number of registered voters to 71 million.
Voter registration for the May 2025 midterms elections resumes on February 12.