MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Friday that 1,072 cities and municipalities have so far submitted signature pages for a people’s initiative seeking to amend the 1987 Constitution.
According to Garcia, the signature sheets came from 187 of 245 districts nationwide.
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No information yet was available on which Comelec local offices have received any signature papers.
Garcia also once again defended the local offices against the criticism of receiving the signature pages.
“‘Yung Comelec resolution 10650, with all due respect to our good Senator Koko Pimentel, ay napromulgate po nung 2020 at ‘yun po ay ang implementing rules and regulations o guidelines para po sa Republic Act 6735,” Garcia said when asked by reporters for a comment on Pimentel’s questioning of Comelec’s legal basis for receiving such papers.
(Comelec resolution 10650, with all due respect to our good Senator Koko Pimentel, was promulgated in 2020, and that is the implementing rules and regulations or guidelines for Republic Act 6735.)
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“As of today, ‘yan pong Comelec resolution 10650 ay isang valid na issuance po ng Commisison on Elections. Hindi po namin basta-basta pwede baguhin, isantabi po ‘yun sapagkat otherwise kami naman po at ‘yung mga local Comelec [offices] ang makakasuhan po dereliction of duty,” he added.
(As of today, Comelec resolution 10650 is a valid issuance by the Commission on Elections. We can’t just change it or put that aside because otherwise, the local Comelec [offices] and we will be charged with dereliction of duty.)
He also noted that Comelec will continue to accept the signature forms in accordance with the “existing and valid” resolution unless the Supreme Court deems them invalid.
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