Sen. Pimentel mulls filing petition before SC to question Comelec’s role in People’s Initiative
Sen. Pimentel mulls filing petition before SC to question Comelec’s role in People’s Initiative
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Moves and counter moves are being done by those who are foreign against the People's Initiative for Charter Change.
00:06 One side is even contemplating seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court to stop the initiative dead on its tracks.
00:13 Daniel Manalastas has more.
00:16 A former House Solon and now one of the proponents of People's Initiative for Charter Change
00:23 insists that House Speaker Martin Romaldes is not involved on their actions.
00:28 In light of so many allegations and speculations of the Speaker having a hand in the PI master plan.
00:35 Former Congressman Alfredo Garbin said it doesn't bother him or his colleagues on people mulling to question the PI in the Supreme Court.
00:45 That's part of the democratic process. You know while we are religiously following the right procedure for this People's Initiative,
01:01 we expect that there will be obstacles and this will be one of the ones that will file on a legal question or constitutional question before the Supreme Court.
01:12 But we are ready because the defect and infirmities in the Lambino case, we studied that and addressed it here in the present People's Initiative that we are pursuing.
01:30 Senate Minority Leader Coco Pimentel meanwhile mulled a possible filing in the SC, questioning the Commission on Elections' role on the PI.
01:39 There's no law. They should not be accepting that because their question to the person filing is, "What is this for?"
01:46 "What is this for? Why are you giving this to the election officer?"
01:50 The answer should be, "To count it."
01:52 "Why are we counting it? What do you want?"
01:55 "Because we have People's Initiative."
01:57 "What law says we have counted it?"
01:59 "Your resolution."
02:01 "Why are we issuing a resolution?"
02:05 "We are pursuing to Law 6735, invalidated by the Supreme Court to support a People's Initiative."
02:13 Comelec for its part is ready in the event the case is elevated or brought to the highest court.
02:20 There is a Comelec Resolution, that's Comelec Resolution 10650, which is not new.
02:25 January 31, 2020.
02:27 And that's why we are enforcing this because in the four years that this was promulgated, no one asked the Supreme Court questions.
02:33 So when the time came that we needed to implement this, we just did our job.
02:38 Daniel Manalastas for the Nation.