SIGNATURES FROM 46 LGUS SUBMITTED

THOUGH the Philippine Senate issued a manifesto slamming People’s Initiative (PI), the movement appears to be far from slowing down as groups continue to submit signature sheets to local election offices calling for the holding of PI in order to amend the Philippine Constitution.

Provincial Elections Officer Marino Salas said only two of the 48 towns and cities in Pangasinan have yet to submit their respective signature sheets.

The signatories, he said, were members of groups or of Non-Government Organizations, and individuals or plain voters, adding that in a People’s Initiative, any registered voter can sign or be a proponent of a movement or action that seeks to amend the Charter by people’s initiative.

So far, no group or individual has been identified to be behind the solicitation of signatures in all six congressional districts of Pangasinan.

Salas said Comelec is mandated just to accept and receive the signature sheets and to issue corresponding certifications acknowledging their receipt of the signature sheets.

“After accepting, receiving and certifying receipt of the same, we do not do anything except to secure the signature sheets submitted to us, then, we wait for the order from the Comelec en banc,” Salas said.

He added only an order form the Commission en banc to his office before the municipal and city election offices  can start the process of determining if the signatories complied with the rules.

He cited as an example that if there are 22,000 registered voters who signed the petition in Dagupan City, the signatures of each of these voters will be meticulously verified.

He said the process to verify signatures is to determine if there are three percent of the registered voters in every congressional district, and 12 percent of the registered voters in the entire country. (Leonardo Micua)

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