BACOLOD CITY – A campaign seeking to withdraw signatures for the People’s Initiative (PI) will be launched here on Saturday, January 27.
Atty. Cesar Beloria Jr., an advocate on educating people about the PI, is calling for the withdrawal of these signatures, as he believed that most people who signed have no idea about it and have been deceived.
LAWYER Cesar Beloria Jr. (left) and his father Fiscal Cesar Sr. show a copy of the form that they will use in their campaign to withdraw signatures on People's Initiative (PI) in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental during a press briefing at Northwest Inn in Bacolod City on Thursday, January 25. (Glazyl Masculino)
Beloria and his father, Fiscal Cesar Sr., faced the media at Northwest Inn on Thursday, January 25, and announced their plan to kick off the campaign here and later in Negros Occidental. “This is difficult but we're preparing for this,” Cesar said.
Cesar said that it is important for a Filipino to understand what PI is all about because they want the people to exercise their right. "We don't want them to lose it," he said.
PI is a way to make laws beyond the power vested in Congress provided for by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Under Republic Act 6735, it is a “power of the people to propose amendments to the Constitution or to propose and enact legislation through an election called for the purpose.”
Cesar said that it requires 12 percent of the total registered voters in the Philippines to sign the petition for a new law and also the signature of at least three percent of registered voters in each legislative district.
"We need to put legitimacy on this," he said as he stressed that it is important to make the people understand so as not to destroy the democracy of the country.
Beloria said that once the PI pushes through, the Senate will lose power. “We have no choice, somebody has to stand up to create a stir so that people will realize that there’s something really wrong in the process of PI,” he added.
The Senate disapproved the PI, which allegedly involved bribery and other illegal activities, as a way to pursue Charter change.
In a manifesto signed by all 24 senators, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said that "if this PI prospers, further changes to the Constitution can be done with or without the Senate's approval, or worse, even absent all the senators.”
Should Congress vote jointly in a Constituent Assembly, the Senate and its 24 members cannot cast any meaningful vote against the 316 members of the House of Representatives. This singular and seemingly innocuous change in the Constitution will open the floodgates to a wave of amendments and revisions that will erode the nation as we know it, Zubiri said.
Cesar said that they want check and balance. "Stop fooling the people and yourselves," he said, adding that that there might be somebody behind this move.
He said that once the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has validated the signatures for PI, it shall publish it in newspapers. "That's how easy it is," Beloria said as he urged the poll body to take a second look.
Beloria said that they have distributed soft copies of the forms on the withdrawal of PI signatures to people who want to facilitate the campaign in their areas.
“When we approach the person, we can probably do it live for transparency,” he said, adding that it can stand as substantial evidence to file an intervention with the Comelec questioning the "irregularity" of the signatures on PI.
About 68,000 signatures on PI have been submitted to the Comelec in this city. He said that three barangays have committed to withdraw their signatures as they do not understand the context of it.
Cesar said that if the Comelec rejects the signatures from their campaign, it is alright as they have at least offered and tried to intervene for the benefit of the people.
"This is our advocacy," he said, adding that they will try despite the struggle.