PIRMA head: Congressmen helped in signature drive

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez and other congressmen helped in the signature campaign meant to amend the 1987 Constitution, the lead convenor of the People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA) told a Senate panel yesterday.

During the public hearing of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos, PIRMA lead convenor Noel Oñate said Romualdez and some congressmen provided advisory and administrative assistance to the group to gather signatures from each of the 250 districts nationwide.

Romualdez, who had previously denied involvement in the signature drive for a people’s initiative, said in a statement that he merely served as an adviser and “facilitator for healthy democratic processes” when he met at his house last year with the PIRMA group.

“As Speaker of the House, I am committed to upholding the principles of democracy and facilitating discussions on matters of national interest. The meeting with the People’s Initiative representatives was an exercise in this commitment. My role, as misinterpreted by some, is not as an orchestrator but as a facilitator for healthy democratic processes,” he declared.

“It is crucial to clarify that while I support the spirit of civic engagement and participatory governance, my involvement in the People’s Initiative has been purely advisory and in no way extends to mobilizing or leading their signature campaign,” he added. “The initiative and its operations are entirely led and managed by the group themselves.”

Oñate said the same thing to the Senate panel.

Later in the afternoon, senators filed a resolution authorizing Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to challenge before the Supreme Court the constitutionality and validity of the latest people’s initiative for Charter change.

In her opening statement, Marcos took a jab at the proponents of the signature drive for PI, which many sectors believed originated from the House of Representatives.

Marcos presented a compilation of news video clips that showed ordinary citizens who were made to sign the people’s initiative even without proper explanations about the signature drive.

“Let’s watch