Marikina cops ordered to arrest PI signature ‘buyers’

MANILA, Philippines —  Saying his constituents are not for sale, Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro yesterday ordered the arrest of people found offering money to city residents in exchange for their signatures for the people’s initiative (PI) campaign.

Teodoro gave the warning as he stressed that giving cash to people in exchange for their signatures as part of the PI campaign is illegal.

“This is a criminal act. We will not allow it,” he said in an interview aired over SMNI News.

He did not say in the interview if he had already monitored activities of people involved in the signature drive in the city’s 16 barangays.

Teodoro warned proponents of the signature drive not to belittle the intelligence of his constituents as they would never surrender their principles for an illegal act. “Marikenos are not for sale, let’s preserve our dignity,” he said.

Teodoro said he has received reports that people involved in the signature drive are not even residents of the municipalities and cities where they are doing signature gathering.

Meanwhile, with no action expected for now from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), proponents of Charter change through people’s initiative have started withdrawing signature sheets they had earlier submitted to the poll body for verification.

Initially, 387 signature pages containing 3,757 signatures have been retrieved by a certain Anthony Abad from the local Comelec office in Antique last Jan. 30, records show.

Last week, the Comelec issued a resolution suspending all its proceedings related to PI.

Being the owners of the signature sheets, PI proponents are allowed to pull out signature forms from different Comelec offices nationwide, said Comelec Chairman George Garcia.

He added it’s the responsibility of the Comelec to make sure signature forms still in the possession of the poll body are safely kept and would not be used for other purposes.

According to Garcia, there is no reason for those against the PI to doubt the motive of the Comelec when it announced the suspension of all its proceedings related to PI.

Garcia had earlier called on PI proponents to retrieve the signature sheets in Comelec possession and just return the certifications it had issued.

Garcia said the commission cannot destroy the signature sheets and the proponents can also not be prevented from using those in the future.

While the signatures gathered have no expiry dates, the proponents – according to Garcia – will have to gather new ones in case they decide to change the provisions they want to amend.

In Bacolod City, the campaign for withdrawal of signatures gathered by PI proponents continues, with one organizer claiming that they have established irregularity in the conduct of the signature drive. –  Gilbert Bayoran