Comelec receives signature pages from voters pushing people’s initiative

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia speaks during a press briefing at the Comelec Central Office in Manila in this file photo taken on November 30, 2023. | PHOTO: Noy Morcoso / Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines —  The Commission on Elections (Comelec) received pages after pages of signatures for people’s initiative coming from 400 cities and municipalities nationwide.

According to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, they are still determining from which districts these signature forms come from.

“Halos po nationwide ‘yung report sa atin. Mula sa Cordillera hanggang sa Bangsamoro ay nakatatanggap na po ‘yung mga local Comelec natin ng mga signature pages. ‘Yun pong mga signature forms na iyan, ‘yun po yung mga prescribed form na nandoon sa aming Comelec Resolution no. 10650,” Garcia told reporters in an ambush interview on Wednesday.

(The report has almost nationwide coverage. From the Cordillera to Bangsamoro, our local Comelec offices are already receiving the signature pages. Those signature forms refer to the prescribed forms outlined in our Comelec Resolution no. 10650.)

Photo courtesy of Comelec

“Ang sunod na proseso pagkatapos mai-submit ay mag-i-issue po ang local Comelec ng certification. Bibilangin niya ‘yung lahat ng mga signatures na nai-submit sa kanya. [Kung] ang sabi ng proponent sampung libo, ika-counter check po ng local Comelec namin kung talagang sampung libo,” he explained.

(The next process after submission is for the local Comelec to issue a certification. They will count all the submitted signatures. If the proponent claims ten thousand, our local Comelec will counter-check to verify if it indeed amounts to 10,000.)

After that, the local Comelec will submit a copy of the certification to the office of the clerk of courts for future comparison.

Photo courtesy of Comelec

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Based on the 1987 Constitution, petitioners must collect signatures from at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters, with each legislative district represented by at least three percent of its registered voters.

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However, Garcia noted that the petition needs to meet the following criteria: sufficiency in form and sufficiency in substance.

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Should the petition be sufficient in form and substance, then the election officers can now verify if the signatures indeed came from existing registered voters.

Then a determination whether it still hurdled the three percent and 12 percent minimum will be done.

If the numbers of signatures meet the requirement , then a schedule for plebiscite can be set.