884 LGUs have received pages of signatures for Cha-cha people's initiative —Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said at least 884 cities and municipalities have received several pages of signatures for the people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

"As of the last working hour po kahapon, Sabado, 884 cities and municipalities na ang nakatanggap ng signature pages at karamihan diyan ay nabilang na," said Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB on Saturday. 

"Pirma pa lang ang binibilang namin kasi wala pa naman 'yung petisyon," he added. 

Laudiangco noted that the commission is closely monitoring the signatures to ensure they match the data from their system. 

"Titingnan namin, 'yan ba ay tao talaga, registered voter ba siya, hindi ba siya deactivated at active ang kanyang registration at 'yung pirma, pinakaimportante, dapat nagma-match sa datos namin," he said. 

Amid the reports that the proponents of the People's Initiative (PI) for Charter change (Cha-cha) were said to be aiming to have the plebiscite by July, Laudiangco said the Comelec has yet to reveal a specific timeline. 

Comelec chairperson George Garcia earlier stressed that the commission has yet to gather enough signatures from towns and cities for the plebiscite to happen in a six-month timeline. 

“May nakita akong [nagsabi na] June, may nakita rin akong July. Mukha pong napakalapit naman, masyadong ine-estimate, Masyadong napapangunahan yung Commission on Elections sapagkat magve-verify pa po kami ng signatures later,” said Garcia.

As stated in the 1987 Constitution, amendments can be directly proposed by the people "through 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, a mode called people’s initiative."

Once the number of required signatures are met, proponents of the said people’s initiative will have to file their petition with Comelec, the poll body, where it will undergo further scrutiny and verification of signatures, among others. — BM, GMA Integrated News