00:00 Some senators will bring to the Supreme Court the issue of the acceptance of the Comelec
00:05 of the PIRMA, the People's Initiative for the Charter Change.
00:09 Senate Minority Leader Coco Pimentel, who has other senators with him,
00:12 will surely attend to fight the case against this.
00:17 There will be a file. I just don't know if it's a Senate as an institution or individual senators.
00:22 We need a referee.
00:24 Pimentel's petition is in the center of questioning why the Comelec is accepting the signature forms,
00:31 even though the poll body said that it is only a ministerial duty based on Resolution 10650.
00:37 You cannot give yourself power. There must be a law authorizing you to issue that resolution.
00:44 The answer is 6735, RA 6735.
00:49 The Supreme Court said that RA 6735 is insufficient to support a people's initiative.
00:55 It seems that the Comelec is accommodating too much in accepting the signatures.
01:00 The poll body said earlier that they are just doing what is stated in the resolution.
01:06 We are wondering why it is automatic.
01:08 Maybe the person giving the papers to them is speechless.
01:10 They already know what to do. They will count it. Why?
01:14 The commission said that it has no problem if the resolution is submitted to the Supreme Court.
01:19 Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that this is a good legal issue to clarify everything.
01:25 Some people think that our process is wrong or that the process we are accepting is wrong.
01:35 We said that it is easy to question our guidelines and the rules that were issued in 2020.
01:42 In the four years that this has been promulgated, no one has questioned the Supreme Court.
01:47 We welcome this if we are brought to the Supreme Court.
01:51 While there are no cases that have been brought to the Supreme Court,
01:53 Garcia insisted that they will continue to accept signature forms.
01:58 Our commitment to everyone is that the Comelec will always follow the rules,
02:02 the law and the guidelines that we have until we are stopped or until we are ordered not to enforce
02:12 the process that is in our guidelines.
02:15 The group is confident in the People's Initiative that they will be able to complete the signatures needed within three months.
02:22 Even so, Comelec said that there will be a plebiscite this year and the next
02:28 because they were able to prepare for the 2025 midterm elections.
02:33 Paige Javier, CNN Philippines.
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