Comelec: Plebiscite questions for Cha-cha must be set by Dec. 15

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said that the plebiscite questions for Charter change should be determined by December 15, 2024 to ensure that it will be included in the ballots for the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE).

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said this at a Senate hearing amid the push to conduct the plebiscite to ratify the proposed Constitutional amendments and the 2025 midterm elections simultaneously.

According to Garcia, the Comelec is scheduled to start printing the ballots by the second week of January 2025.

The Comelec chief said they are planning to put at least three plebiscite questions, which are answerable by “yes” or “no”,  on the front part of the ballot before the names of the senatorial candidates.

The new automated counting machines will be able to read the answers to the plebiscite questions, he added.

Asked what will happen if the plebiscite questions are not determined before December 15, Garcia said, “In that event, then we will have to order a reprint of the ballot.”

But Marcos said this might cause delay in the deliveries of ballots in far-flung areas and even abroad for overseas voters.

Garcia said printing a separate ballot for the plebiscite can be an option.

The Comelec chairman also clarified that the plebiscite question will be based on the amendments to the charter being pushed by Congress or via constituent assembly, and not the controversial people’s initiative (PI).

“There’s no more issue as regards the PI plebiscite because again, we permanently, in the meantime suspended the people’s initiative,” Garcia said.

According to the poll body head, the signature forms were in the safekeeping of the local Comelec offices and its possible use in the future will depend on interpretation of the law on People’s Initiative.
“The interpretation may be that there is really no law. So how can there be an implementing rules and regulation on the part of the commission,” Garcia said.

With this, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III advised the Comelec to return all the documents in the controversial PI to its proponents.

“Ang advice ko na lang sa Comelec, since you’ll be accountable for all these papers with signatures and our position is there is no sufficient law, sana ibalik sa whoever gave it to you para ma-release na po kayo sa responsibility to safekeep the documents,” Pimentel said, to which Garcia agreed to.

Garcia then urged the proponents of PI to get the documents and return the certification that they issued.

“We are now publicly saying that those who submitted to us the signature sheets, they are free to get [it] from us…Basta i-surrender po ‘yung certification na in-issue ng mga local Comelec namin and at the same time to our people who signed the signature sheets, available sa lahat po ng Comelec offices ang signature form and no need to write or state the reason for withdrawal,” Garcia said.—RF, GMA Integrated News