Pimentel calls for probe on 'bribed initiative' for Charter change

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday said that there's a need to investigate the alleged payment of P100 pesos in exchange of a person’s signature for the people’s initiative campaign in a bid to revise the 1987 Constitution.

Pimentel issued the remark after Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel raised the allegations on Monday.

“We need more investigative work. But if indeed the signatures were paid for then the People’s Initiative Petition is not from the people but is the initiative of the source of the money which could be commercial or some other vested selfish interest,” Pimentel said in a text message to reporters.

“A bribed initiative is not the people’s spontaneous initiative,” he added.

Asked who should investigate such allegations, Pimentel said it could be the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Congress, and Non-governmental Organizations.

For Pimentel, “anything of value in exchange for a signature can be considered a bribe.”

Earlier this week, Lagman claimed that Legazpi City Mayor Alfredo Garbin and Ako Bicol party-list lawmaker Jill Bongalon were present during a January 5 meeting with municipal mayors at the Ellis Hotel in Legazpi City where Ako Bicol party-list coordinators allegedly received an unspecified amount of money to ensure their constituents will provide the required 3% of total voters per municipality for a people’s initiative to gain ground in amending the Constitution.

"Doon sa meeting na 'yon, namigay ng 50% ng 100 pesos per voter. Ang sabi susunod yung balance na 50%,” Lagman said in a “24 Oras” report.

As per Lagman, 3 mayors from his district returned the money.

For his part, Manuel said his office received reports from the Urban Poor Coordinating Council that certain community leaders are making beneficiaries of government subsidies sign forms pushing for Charter change, telling them that the move is needed in order for them to continue receiving government aid.

Manuel showed a video allegedly showing Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and Tulong Panghanapbuhay Sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced workers (TUPAD) programs under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) being used in efforts to push for Charter change.

Senator Imee Marcos also alleged that “congressmen [and] local executives are asked to provide lists of beneficiaries.”

She said these beneficiaries “could be their staff [and] coordinators’ relatives.”

“As always, how to prove? Yari na naman [ang] three frontline social departments- DSWD, DOH, DOLE,” she said.

“Sa Congress mismo galing yan. Yan ang alok sa Region 1, Region 7, sa Leyte, etcetera. [20,000] signatures by January 13, P100 per signature,” she said.

Asked where the supposed bribe came from, Marcos said, “Clearly, from someone with unlimited access and control over listed funds.”

She then mentioned that the “power of the purse is with Congress, not the president,” when asked if her brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.on his possible involvement in this alleged bribery.

Last year, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said 2024 is the right time to push for Charter change. Many of his allies in the Lower House said a People's Initiative is the course that it should take since the Senate would hinder a Constitutional Convention after it is approved by the House of Representatives.

Under the 1987 Constitution, any amendment to or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by:

• The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members (constituent assembly)
• A constitutional convention during which Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention, and
• A people’s initiative upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein

Under Republic Act 6735, revisions via the public can happen if a petition for an initiative on the 1987 Constitution must have at least 12% of the total number of registered voters as signatories. For each district, no fewer than 3% of registered voters should sign the petition. The signatures would then be verified by the Commission on Elections.

On Tuesday, Lagman said that the Charter change initiative being pushed by some majority lawmakers is worth at least P14 billion under the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024.

He said the amount dwarfs the allocations for six government agencies under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

"The huge allocation of P14 billion is bigger than the appropriations for the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) – P9,89 billion; Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – P8,63 billion; Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) – P8.08 billion; Office of the Ombudsman – P5.53 billion; Department of Tourism – P3.4 billion; and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development – P3.3 billion," he said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News