ILOILO City – As of Jan. 20, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received 423,504 signatures from 58 cities and municipalities in Region 6 purportedly supportive of the call to amend the 1987 Constitution through a People’s Initiative.
According to Comelec Region 6 director Atty. Dennis Ausan, the signatures were collected by city and municipal election offices from the provinces of Aklan, Iloilo and Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City.
In Aklan, Comelec-6 recorded 76,165 signatures, in Iloilo province 141,983, and in Negros Occidental 205,356.
Ausan noted that Aklan is the first province where all 17 municipalities have completed their submissions.
The breakdown of signatures by legislative districts in Iloilo Province shows varying levels of participation. The 1st District contributed 54,071 signatures, while the 2nd District had yet to submit any.
The 3rd District only submitted 37 signatures from Cabatuan town, with several municipalities yet to participate.
The 4th District contributed 12,720 signatures, and the 5th District saw 75,155 signatures.
Iloilo City has not yet submitted any signature sheets.
In Negros Occidental, the submission of signatures also varied by district.
The 1st District submitted 33,995 signatures, the 2nd District added 21,257, the 3rd District recorded 31,164, the 4th District contributed 19,070, and the 6th District reported 30,772 signatures.
No submissions were recorded from the 5th District.
Bacolod City accounted for 69,098 signatures.
Ausan clarified that Comelec does not participate in the signing process and is unaware of the groups organizing or initiating the signature collection.
He also said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has reminded local government units not to interfere in the process.
The current process involves election officers receiving signature sheets and issuing certifications to those who submit them.
However, the number of signatures might change after Comelec validates their authenticity.
If a petition for a people’s initiative is filed and meets the requirements, the Commission en banc will order election officers to start validating the signatures to confirm they belong to registered voters.
Ausan explained that after validation, the sheets are forwarded to the Comelec en banc to determine if at least 3 percent of registered voters in each legislative district and not less than 12 percent nationwide have been achieved.
If met, Comelec will schedule a plebiscite within 45 to 90 days after issuing a certification. However, as of now, Comelec has not taken any action since no formal petition for a people’s initiative has been filed./PN
