The initiative to withdraw signatures for those who signed for the People's Initiative for Charter Change is now ongoing in Negros Occidental.
Bacolod City lawyer Cesar Beloria Jr. is spearheading the initiative.
He said on Monday, January 22, that the move is in response to the call of Commission on Elections chairman George Garcia.
Garcia earlier said that people who had signed a petition for a people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution could still withdraw their signatures if they did not fully understand the significance of the planned charter change.
Beloria said he has received inquiries from the public asking if they can still withdraw their signatories from the petition.
"This is my initiative and no one is behind me," he said.
He added that some people who have signed the petition admitted that they don't understand what they have signed and they want it withdrawn.
"We have no actual targets for how many signatures but only those who are willing to withdraw their signatures from the petition," he said, adding that "there is something wrong with the process and doubt on the authenticity and validity of signature campaign especially in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental."
“We will have volunteers going around the different barangays who will carry the forms for people to sign so they can withdraw their signatures,” he also said.
Beloria said some people were made to believe that their signatures were in exchange for programs of the government or that somebody influenced them.
"Others said they were told that their signature would mean the continuity of their financial assistance from the government while some were forced to sign as their parents are working in a barangay in Bacolod," he said.*