SUPPLEMENTAL GUIDELINES ABALOS, Benjamin S. Chairman
IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BORRA, Resurreccion Z. Commissioner REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6735 IN TUASON, Jr. Florentino A. Commissioner RELATION TO COMELEC BRAWNER, Romeo A. Commissioner RESOLUTION NO. 2300 SARMIENTO, Rene V. Commissioner FERRER, Nicodemo T. Commissioner REGARDING THE CONDUCT OF INITIATIVE TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. Promulgated on 2 January 2007
RESOLUTION NO. 7796
WHEREAS, in G.R. No. 127325, entitled “Miriam Defensor
Santiago, et al. vs. The Commission on Elections et al.”, the Supreme Court held among others: “(b) declaring Republic Act No. 6735 inadequate to cover the system of initiative on amendments to the Constitution, and to have failed to provide sufficient standard for subordinate legislation; and (c) declaring void those parts of Resolution No. 2300 of the Commission on Elections prescribing rules and regulations on the conduct of initiative on amendments to the Constitution.”
WHEREAS, in the Resolution of the Supreme Court in G.R. No.
174153, entitled, “Raul L. Lambino, et. al –vs- The Commission on Elections, et al.”, and G. R. No. 174299, entitled, “MAR-LEN Abigail Binay, et al. –vs- Commission on Elections et al.”, it is stated that: “Ten (10) members of the Court reiterate their position, as shown by their various opinions already given when the Decision herein was promulgated that Republic Act No. 6735 is sufficient and adequate to amend the Constitution thru people’s initiative”; 2
WHEREAS, in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in
G. R. No. 174153, it is necessary to promulgate rules and regulations to amend/supplement Comelec Resolution No. 2300 implementing the provisions of Republic Act No. 6735 regarding the conduct of initiatives to amend the constitution;
NOW THEREFORE, by virtue of the powers vested in it by the
Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code (B.P. Blg. 881), Republic Act No. 6735, and other related election laws, the COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, resolves to promulgate, as it hereby promulgates, the following rules and regulations to govern the conduct of initiative on the Constitution.
SECTION 1. Definition of terms:
(a) “Proposition” is the measure proposed by the
voters. It may be in question form, summarizing the proposed amendment/s which shall be submitted to the registered voters for approval;
(b) “Petition” is the written instrument containing
the proposition and the required number of signatories in the form to be prescribed by the Commission on Elections, hereinafter referred to as Commission;
(c) “Proposed Amendments to the Constitution”
refers to the text of the proposed amendment/s to the Constitution that must be incorporated in the Petition.
(d) “Proponent” is any registered voter or group of
registered voters proposing the amendments to the Constitution. 3
SEC. 2. Filing of petition with signatures. – Proponents
together with registered voters who signed the petition by affixing their signature on the signature sheets shall file their petition, containing the required number of signatures of registered voters duly verified by the Election Officer in accordance with Sec. 6 hereof, with the Law Department of the Commission on Elections. The same shall be properly docketed upon payment of the appropriate filing fee. The form of the petition is hereto attached as Annex “A”.
Initiative to amend the Constitution may be exercised by the
electorate only after five (5) years from its ratification on February 2, 1987, and only once every five (5) years thereafter.
SEC. 3. Required number of signatures. - A petition for
initiative to amend the constitution shall be deemed validly initiated if signed by at least twelve per centum (12%) of the total number of registered voters nationwide, of which every legislative district is represented by a least three per centum (3%) of the registered voters thereof.
Any registered voter or group of registered voters may act as
proponent/s to commence the process of initiative. Signature gathering shall be the exclusive domain and private concern of the proponent/s. All expenses relative thereto shall be solely borne by the proponent/s and shall not be funded from public sources.
The proponent/s shall ensure that before the registered voters
sign the Petition and signify their support for filing the same, the registered voters must have read and understood the Petition and the proposed amendments to the Constitution.
The signatures of the registered voters on the signature sheets
shall constitute their approval of the proposed amendment in the proposed initiative and their consent to the filing of the Petition.
SEC. 4. Certification on the number of registered voters. At the
instance of the proponents, the Election Records and Statistics Department shall issue a certification on the total number of registered voters in each legislative district. 4
SEC. 5. Signature Stations. - Signature stations may be
established by the proponents with the assistance of the Election Officer in as many places in the city/municipality as may be warranted. The proponent/s shall inform the concerned Election Officers of the places where the stations will be set up, the dates of the signature gathering and the dates when the signatures will be submitted to the Election Officers for verification.
SEC. 6. Verification of signatures. - The Election Officer shall
verify the signatures on the basis of the registry list of voters, voter’s affidavits and voters’ identification cards used in the immediately preceding election. Verification of signatures may be done during or after the signature gathering process. The Election Officer concerned shall give notice of the verification dates by posting notices in at least two (2) conspicuous places in the city/municipality at least one week before the start of the verification.
The Election Officer shall exert all efforts to verify the
signatures submitted in the most expeditious and efficient manner and shall refrain from any unnecessary delay.
After the Election Officer has verified the signatures submitted
to it by the proponents, the Election Officer shall issue a certification of verification in five (5) copies, indicating therein the number of signatures verified, number of signatures found to be similar or identical and number of signatures found not to be similar or identical on the basis of documents on file with his office or the Commission, a sample form is hereto attached for ready reference as Annex “B” and Verification Form as Annex “B-1”. After issuance of said certification, custody of the signature sheets and the copies of the petition to which they are attached and two (2) originals of the certification shall be turned over to the Proponent/s thru its authorized representative. The Election Officer shall retain one original in his office for record purposes and the two other original copies shall be transmitted to the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor for their file copy and for transmittal to the Law Department, Commission on Elections, Manila. 5
SEC. 7. Determination by the Commission. - The Commission
shall act on the findings of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the petition for initiative to amend the constitution.
If it should appear that the required number of signatures has not
been obtained, the petition shall be deemed defeated and the Commission shall issue a declaration to that effect.
If it is satisfied that the required number of signatures has been
obtained, the Commission shall set the date of the plebiscite on the initiative to amend the constitution in accordance with the succeeding sections.
SEC. 8. Appeal. - The decision of the Commission on the
findings of the sufficiency and insufficiency of the petition for initiative may be appealed to the Supreme Court within thirty (30) days from notice thereof.
SEC. 9. Publication of proposition. - Within thirty (30) days
from receipt of the petition containing the required number of signatures, the Commission shall publish the petition in Filipino and English at least twice in newspapers of general and local circulation.
SEC. 10. Call and supervision of plebiscite on initiative to
amend the constitution. - The Commission shall set the date of the plebiscite not earlier than sixty (60) days but not later than ninety (90) days from the determination of the sufficiency of the petition in which the proposition for amendment of the constitution shall be submitted to all registered voters for their consideration. The Commission shall supervise and control the conduct of the plebiscite called for the purpose.
SEC. 11. Effectivity of initiative proposition. - a) If, as
certified by the Commission, the proposition is approved by a majority of the votes cast, the amendment shall become effective as of the date of the plebiscite. 6
b) If the majority vote is not obtained, the proposed amendment
is disapproved.
SEC. 12. Applicability of the Omnibus Election Code and other
relevant election laws. - The Omnibus Election Code (B.P. Blg. 881), Republic Act No. 6735 and other relevant election laws shall apply to all initiative and referenda.
SEC. 13. Effectivity. - This Resolution shall take effect on the
seventh day following its publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.
(Sgd.) BENJAMIN S. ABALOS
Chairman
(Sgd.) RESURRECCION Z. BORRA (Sgd.) FLORENTINO A. TUASON,