Bato: House seems to have sought PIRMA for people's initiative

It appears that the House of Representatives has sought the help of People's Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) for the Charter change (Cha-cha) signature campaign, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said on Tuesday.

This is contrary to the admission of PIRMA lead convenor Noel Oñate that they sought the help of House Speaker Martin Romualdez to get 3% of signatures per congressional district for the people's initiative for Charter change (Cha-cha).

Dela Rosa arrived at this assumption during the continuation of the Senate electoral reform and people's participation's investigation into the alleged payoffs and bribery in the controversial people's initiative. This was after Oñate's legal counsel, Alex Avisado, and petitioner Anthony Abad gave inconsistent statements when answering the question of who printed the signature forms.

"Kung basehan natin 'yung mga timeline 'no, I'm slowly getting the impression na parang lumalabas na hindi itong PIRMA and pumunta sa House of Representatives para magpatulong sa PI. Parang lumalabas, it’s the other way around. ‘Yung House leadership ang nagpapatulong dito sa PIRMA para mapapatakbo ‘yung PI," Dela Rosa said.

"Parang gano’n lumalabas dahil hindi pa nga kayo organized, two weeks ago hindi pa kumpleto ‘yung inyong organization so forgive me if I'm wrong pero that’s my impression developing in my mind... Kasi para bang… prepared na lahat, printado na ang lahat itong mga papel. Kayo hindi pa nga kayo naka organize ng mga tao tapos pah! ‘Yun na, pirma na. Kuha na kaagad ng pirma tapos saka kayo come into the picture. My impression only based on their statements," he added.

It was Senator Imee Marcos who pressed Avisado and Abad to identify who printed the signature forms.

According to Avisado, it was lawyer Red Tuazon from the group of former Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin who headed the operations which is in charge of the printing of the forms.

Avisado said that the signature forms from Abad, who admitted to having reviewed the signature sheets, were the ones that were completed first before the ones that were crafted by PIRMA.

However, Abad said that PIRMA was already involved when they completed the signature forms for people's initiative.

This brought confusion to the senators and prompted them to clarify the timeline of their first meetings.

Abad said that it was November when he first met with PIRMA's lead convenor Oñate then he mentioned a meeting with Speaker Martin Romualdez.

"Bakit si speaker na bigla? Akala ko ba hindi siya kasali?" Marcos asked.

Dela Rosa laughed out loud and said, "Nahuli ka sa sarili mong bibig ha."

Abad clarified that the meeting he was referring to was the same meeting mentioned by Oñate during the first hearing to seek their help for the signature gathering.

Still, the question of who printed the signature forms was left unanswered.

"So wala tayong alam? Bigla na lang sumulpot 'yung mga papel?" Marcos asked, to which Abad answered, "I didn't see the printing."

The Senate panel had already invited Tuazon to the next hearing.

The signature campaign led by PIRMA specifically asks voters if they are in favor of amending Article 17 Section 1 of the Constitution by allowing all members of Congress to jointly vote on proposed constitutional amendments.

This amendment is a departure from an existing provision that does not explicitly state whether the House of Representatives and the Senate should vote jointly or separately on proposed amendments to the Charter via a constituent assembly.

These efforts to amend the Constitution via people's initiative have become controversial after several lawmakers disclosed that signatories were allegedly bribed or promised government aid in exchange for their signatures.

The senators slammed these efforts, which they believed were supported by the House of Representatives, particularly Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Romualdez had denied involvement in unlawful activities, such as vote-buying in relation to the people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

However, the Speaker confirmed that he had met with Oñate in his townhouse.

The Senate unanimously released a manifesto against the present people's initiative efforts, saying the House is out to abolish the Senate given that the document for signature asks voters if they are in favor of amending the Charter to allow members of Congress to jointly vote on constitutional amendments, a setup which would consider the vote of 24 senators and more than 300 House members.

The Commission on Elections had already ordered the suspension of all proceedings related to people's initiative. 

GMA News Online sought Romualdez's reaction to Dela Rosa's remarks and will publish it as soon as it becomes available. —LDF, GMA Integrated News