Comelec: Only Supreme Court can halt receiving of Cha-cha signature forms

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said only the Supreme Court can prevent it from receiving signature pages linked to the people's initiative for charter change.

Comelec Spokesperson Rex Laudiangco told reporters they are implementing their rules on people's initiative, which is part of their mandate.

«Siguro ang pamamaraan po lagi is for a higher authority to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO),» Laudiangco noted. «At kung magkakaroon po ng issuance ng ganyan ang pwede lang naman po mag-TRO sa COMELEC ay ang Supreme Court.»

«At magkakaroon po siguro ng pagkakataon diyan kung meron ng justiciable issue,» he added.

[Translation: Perhaps the usual process is for a higher authority to issue a TRO. Only the Supreme Court can issue a TRO against the Comelec. It would come to that if there's a justiciable issue.]

The poll body's spokesperson said the TRO is not yet necessary since the commission does not have jurisdiction over the initiative yet.

Laudiangco explained that Comelec has not released a pronouncement or ruling, nor has it reached the level that it needs to verify the submitted signatures.

«Hindi pa po namin natatanggap ang petition,» he added. «Ang tanging ginagawa po namin ay magbilang lamang ng pirma at mag-issue ng certification.»

[Translation: We have not received the petition yet. What we are doing is counting only the signatures and will be issuing a certification.]

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal earlier urged the poll body to stop accepting the signature sheets, which he said have no evidentiary value since there is no petition filed yet.

READ: Poll lawyer to Comelec: Stop accepting signature forms for cha-cha

Macalintal also said Section 2, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution states that any amendment of its provision by the people through an initiative must be «upon a petition.»

He added that the Supreme Court has ruled that the people must first read the petition before signing it.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia earlier said the poll body is merely doing its ministerial duty under Comelec Resolution No. 10650.

«Kung may pinasa at sinubmit sa amin, 'yun po ay