Vice President Sara bucks Cha-cha moves: Guard the Constitution

MANILA, Philippines — Rejecting the people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution is “to guard the Constitution,” Vice President Sara Duterte said yesterday, as she joined the pushback against the move seen as “tainted” by reports of bribery by its proponents.

“My fellow Filipinos, the ‘Money in exchange for signatures for the People’s Initiative’ continues daily in Davao City and other parts of the country. This is a reflection of the proclivity of politicians to buy votes during elections,” Duterte said in a statement.

She issued the statement a week after her older brother Paolo, who is Davao City representative, expressed his opposition to the people’s initiative, which aims to gather the signatures of at least 12 percent of registered voters per legislative district, to set into motion amendments to the Constitution.

“This is how they take advantage of the dire situation of poor Filipinos and violate their right to decide freely, without any fear or influence from money,” the Vice President said.

“For Filipinos, let’s also remember that exchanging signatures for bribes has serious consequences on our lives, freedom and future,” she added.

She also scored the proponents of the people’s initiative efforts and Charter change proponents in general, saying amending the Constitution should be the least of their worries amid the prevalence of poverty as well as uncertainties in peace and order.

“I hope we will first discuss the welfare of Filipinos rather than allowing foreigners into our country. Let’s put the Philippines first. Let’s take care of our Constitution,” she added.

Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros has also voiced her opposition to moves to amend or even revise the Constitution, saying the country has more pressing problems that cannot be solved by Charter change.

In an interview with ANC yesterday, Hontiveros cited the soaring prices of goods, as well as red tape and corruption in government, that she said are the real stumbling block to the country’s progress.

“The top issues of the Filipino people are the prices of food and goods, working people’s salaries, corruption in government. Even China’s bullying at the West Philippine Sea,” Hontiveros said.

“That’s not what people say that we need. That’s not what we are asking for,” she added, referring to Charter change moves.

Opening up the economy to full foreign ownership, as proponents of Charter change hope to achieve, would only make the domestic economy vulnerable to global instabilities, she said.

Already liberalized

Congress has already liberalized the Charter’s restrictive economic provisions through the passage of relevant laws such as the  Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Service Act and Foreign Investments Act, Hontiveros pointed out.

“There’s so much more that not just the legislature, but the executive can also do to make our business and economic environment more conducive,” she said.

She also questioned the authenticity of the signatures submitted to the Commission on Elections by proponents of Charter change.

She cited reports that voters were given cash or social welfare assistance in exchange for their signatures.

“In the first place, is that really a people’s initiative? It’s misleading to call any initiative a people’s initiative if it is not the people that are behind it,” Hontiveros said.

“Until this day, the complete cast of characters behind those forms that are being distributed… they’re hiding behind a law firm. Is that what you call a people’s initiative?” she added.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III has also voiced doubt on the veracity of the signatures gathered from hundreds of cities and municipalities by the proponents of a people’s initiative.

In an interview with CNN Philippines on Wednesday night, Pimentel questioned the motive of proponents for gathering signatures to amend the constitutional provision on constituent assembly (con-ass), or the mode of proposing amendments through Congress.

The proponents, he said, want to make the Constitution to explicitly state that Congress should vote jointly instead of separately.

The Senate is against the proposal, which would certainly overwhelm the votes of the 24-member upper chamber in an assembly dominated by 315 members of the House of Representatives.

“Judging from the subject matter of the petition – which is actually procedural – it does not help the stomach of the Filipino directly,” Pimentel said. “Therefore, I doubt whether the idea is really coming from the people.”

Opponents of the people’s initiative can also move to discredit the signatures if it is proven that voters were given P100 cash or social welfare assistance in exchange for their participation, Pimentel said.

“If it can be proven that some signatures were solicited through payment of money or material of value, or even a promise of something valuable to come in the future, then the people’s initiative will fail,” he said.

“The Constitution clearly states that the idea or the subject matter of people’s initiative must come from the people, must spontaneously be the desire of the people,” he added.

Suspicious

The minority leader also questioned the motivation of the Senate leadership in filing Resolution of Both Houses 6, which seeks to amend economic provisions and open up select industries like advertising, educational institutions and public services to foreign ownership.

The Senate wants to put the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in Articles XII (National Patrimony and Economy), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions) of the Constitution to liberalize certain industries through legislation.

“What is the motivation in filing this resolution in the Senate? Is this really an honest desire to amend the Constitution, or just a maneuver to placate certain powerful groups in the country, which are in the middle already or deep into the process of amending the Constitution?” Pimentel said, without elaborating.

Initiative may derail voter listup – Comelec

Comelec Chairman George Garcia, meanwhile, raised the possibility that the drive for a people’s initiative might get in the way of resumption of voter registration for the 2025 polls.

He said there is a high chance that voter registration, which is set to resume on Feb. 12, will have to be suspended in order to give way to a plebiscite for the initiative.

“We hope we can do it simultaneously. But we need to give up one in favor of another. So in case we are able to set a date for the plebiscite later on, we will need to suspend voter registration,” Garcia said in an interview.

“It is provided under the law that there cannot be voter registration activities 90 days before special elections and 120 days before regular elections. A plebiscite is a kind of special election,” he said.

People’s initiative proponents are reportedly looking at July as the possible date for a plebiscite to amend the 1987 Constitution.

The Comelec is preparing for voter registration, which ends on Sept. 30.

Garcia added though that the ongoing gathering of signatures is unlikely to affect voter registration.

“Voter registration will just continue despite the ongoing receipt of signature pages in our local Comelec offices,” he maintained.

The Comelec said 726 cities and municipalities have so far submitted signature forms for the initiative to amend the Constitution.

Garcia said they just might encounter difficulty in holding voter registration activities once the Comelec begins signature verification work.

“We don’t have enough manpower to attend to these two major activities. The personnel we will use for verification will also be the ones to manage voter registration,” he added.

In Dagupan City alone, election officer Michael Franks Sarmiento said they have already received the documents containing the signatures of some 23,000 voters.

“As of this time, we are in the process of encoding the names of those in the list while we are waiting for orders from the Comelec en banc,” Sarmiento said. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Rhodina Villanueva, Jun Elias