Comelec says accepting signature forms for Cha-cha a ministerial duty, explains process

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 18) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday explained it is part of its duty to collect all signature forms in relation to the call of a group for Charter change (Cha-cha) via people’s initiative, but it assured the public that nothing formal has been filed yet.

“We just have to count the number of signatures as contained in the signature pages,” Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Noel Oñate, lead convenor of People's Initiative for Reform and Modernization Action, told CNN Philippines on Monday that the group started the signature campaign to push for the amendment of the 1987 Constitution.

According to Laudiangco, over 300 cities and municipalities nationwide have received the signature forms, but he assured the public that no formal petition to push for Cha-cha has been filed yet.

Laudiangco also emphasized that the poll body is simply eliminating any duplicates.

“‘Yung determinationpo kasi if they were able to hurdle the 3% minimum requirement for each legislative district and the 12% nationwide, it depends upon the proponent,” he added.

Certificates will then be issued stating the number of voters who signed, which will be given to the proponent. This will be part of the documents to be submitted to the clerk of Comelec once the party endorsing the petition determines that it was able to meet the percentage requirements, Laudiangco explained.

“After that, the clerk of the commission will evaluate this petition and submit to the en banc its decision as to whether or not they were able to comply with sufficiency in form and substance,” he added.

If the en banc concludes that all requirements are met, it will issue an order for verification. This means that all signatures will be verified to ensure that the voters who signed are registered, under active status, and if their signatures match with the Comelec database.

Validated signatures will be counted and then another certification will be issued, Laudiangco said.

He noted that even if only one legislative district fails to reach the 3% requirement, the petition will be dismissed, thus no plebiscite will be scheduled.