Marcos urging House to drop ‘dreaded’ PI

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will appeal to the House of Representatives and proponents of the People’s Initiative to stop the controversial petition to amend the 1987 Constitution, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Monday.

In a privilege speech, Zubiri said Marcos told him about the appeal he would make during their meeting in Malacañang before the latter departed for his official visit to Vietnam.

“We know that the President has ably served as a senator himself, and he knows firsthand the value of bicameralism. He knows that if the Senate’s approval is needed to merely change the name of a street, then the Senate cannot have a dispensable role in Charter change,” he said.

“As such, the President is set to appeal to the House of Representatives and the other initiators of the People’s Initiative to stop this dreaded PI or their version of the People’s Initiative,” he added.

According to Zubiri, Marcos described the issue with the People’s Initiative as “getting out of hand,” as members of both houses of Congress have traded barbs over it.

Senator Imee Marcos, the President’s sister, accused their cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, of being behind the People’s Initiative, including its questioned funding.

Senator Marcos claimed that the Speaker’s office offered P20 million for each district across the country to gather signatures for the people’s initiative.

Critics of the initiative said Romualdez would not have pushed the measure without the blessing of the President.

The money and “ayuda” said to have been given to those who signed the PI petition had been described as outright bribery. On Sunday, during the launch of the Bagong Pilipinas movement at the Luneta, the President railed against corruption.

Meanwhile, a number of House members, including Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, apparently reading the signal coming from the Palace, said that they are willing to drop the People’s Initiative if only to “allay the fears” over it.

Zubiri challenged House members to “adhere to the Constitution and to abide by the intent of its framers.”

“We remind the House, the Constitution is not there to expand our powers as elected officials. Quite the opposite, it serves as a limit to the exercise of these powers,” he said.

“These limitations serve to protect the people, defend their rights, and promote their common welfare. As the Senate has said from the very start, the Filipino people are our sovereign,” he added.

Zubiri, in an interview with reporters, expressed his gratitude to the Commission on Elections after the latter decided to stop all the proceedings related to the people’s initiative. (See related story)

He, however, noted that the “fight” is far from over as the issue on the people’s initiative was not resolved with the Comelec en banc decision, which includes the poll body’s acceptance of signatures in their local offices.

“We wanted to end the issue with the PI because it is not yet done. We wanted to end it first. We have options to file legal petitions with the Comelec, of course, no longer with the Supreme Court,” he said.

Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III revealed that the upper chamber is planning to file a petition before the Supreme Court to stop the signature drive for a people’s initiative.

Zubiri likewise expressed gratitude to the constituents of the 43 legislative districts that have yet to sign on to the people’s initiative.