Comelec: Charter change push at risk if state funds used for signatures

Comelec Chair George Garcia and Rep. France Castro (File photos by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA and GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Garcia stated that the current “people’s initiative” to amend the Constitution might be invalidated if it’s confirmed that government funds were used to gather petition signatures.

Garcia referred to a 2020 Comelec resolution in response to claims of government officials mobilizing for signature collection, with promises of monetary incentives for signatories.

“Section 16 of Resolution 10650 prohibits the use of government funds to gather signatures for a people’s initiative,” he said in a radio interview on Sunday.

He is referring to Comelec Resolution No. 10650 issued on Jan. 31, 2020, that laid the rules for the “conduct of initiative on the Constitution and initiative and referendum on national and local legislation.”

Not election offense

Section 16 states that “all expenses relative to the signature gathering and verification shall be solely borne by the proponent/s and shall not be funded from public sources.”

“If that will be proven, oh well, the individual signatures of people who were either intimidated, terrorized or given money from government funds may be voided,” Garcia said.

As one of the ways to introduce amendments to the Constitution, a people’s initiative has to gather at least 12 percent of the total registered voters nationwide and 3 percent of the registered voters per legislative district.

If the signature drive becomes successful, the proposed Charter amendment will undergo a plebiscite to be conducted by Comelec.

Should it receive a signed people’s initiative, Comelec has to verify whether the signatures gathered were sufficient and whether the proposed amendment conformed with the required form of the petition.

“Then we will order to verify the signatures, if they were really the signatures of the voters, if they really signed it,” Garcia said.

But in case the signatures are invalidated and the petition falls through, Garcia said Comelec has no authority to charge the proponents with election offense since it was not an electoral exercise.

He, however, said the use of public funds falls under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019), while the involvement of government employees falls under civil service rules that prohibit partisan political activity.

“But on our part, we don’t want to comment yet because we are waiting if there will be any complaint,” Garcia stressed.

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