Saturday, May 06, 2006
Charter change movers claim victory
PROPONENTS of the people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution claimed initial victory in their ongoing advocacy campaign in this city and nearby South Cotabato after close to 10 percent of the area's more than 620,000 registered voters officially endorsed a petition for the proposed charter changes.
Lawyer Hilario de Pedro III, regional coordinator of the Sigaw ng Bayan Movement, said they managed to convince at least eight percent of the voters in first district and 12 percent in the second district of South Cotabato to sign the petition that pushes for a shift from the present bicameral-presidential form of government to a unicameral-parliamentary system.
"It was an uphill battle. South Cotabato and General Santos are traditional bailiwicks of the opposition but we still managed to pull off a decent turnout," said de Pedro, a former governor of South Cotabato.
The "Act Providing for a System of Initiative and Referendum" requires signatures of at least 3 percent of all registered voters of each legislative district and 12 percent of the country's registered voters for a people's initiative to prosper.
General Santos, despite having a Charter status, is under the supervision of Commission on Elections (Comelec)-South Cotabato as it shares the province's first congressional or legislative district along with the province's three municipalities.
Based on official records from the Comelec-South Cotabato has 628,161 registered voters as of the May 10, 2004 elections.
At least 29,160 of the first district's 364,502 total registered voters reportedly endorsed the petition. The first district covers General Santos and the municipalities of Polomolok, Tupi and Tampakan in South Cotabato.
In the second district, some 31,639 voters opted to sign the petition or 12 percent of its 263,659 total voters. The second district covers Koronadal City and the municipalities of Tantangan, Banga, T'boli, Surallah, Sto. Niño, Norala and Lake Sebu.
The total number of signatories reached 60,799 or about 9.7 percent of the total registered voters in the area.
Former South Cotabato Representative Luwalhati Antonino, a key leader of the united opposition in Mindanao, has been leading the campaigns against the people's initiative in the area.
"(The people's initiative) is grossly immoral because its main purpose is clearly to protect the tenure of the present administration by using the people's money," she told reporters.
Antonino questioned the involvement of the Department of Interior and Local Government in the signature drive and Malacañang's supposed allocation of some P5 million for the advocacy campaign on the proposed Charter change. (Allen V. Estabillo)
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(May 1, 2006 issue)
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