by Gerry Lee Gorit
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – City Councilor Girlie Balaba slammed the congressional initiative to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution as it is “done in bad faith” by way of bribing the people for cheap monetary considerations.
It was recently reported that a group allegedly lead by House Speaker Martin Romualdez are going rounds in the country to ask for signatures from Filipinos to vote for the amendment of the Philippine Constitution.
“We heard that congressmen are going the rounds to their respective districts and do massive signature campaigns and entice the Filipino people to sign in exchange for certain funds or “alleged bribe” This is not acceptable. If we are going to amend the constitution through people’s initiative (PI) it should be on the people’s will and movers for the people’s initiative must not resort to briber,” Councilor Balaba pointed out.
Earlier, Senator Imee Marcos also ‘hurled brickbats’ against his cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez. The senator accused Romualdez of funding the people’s initiative. It was learned that congressmen are allegedly alloted P20 million each to pursuade the constituents in their district to respond positively to the signature campaigns.
Marcos, chair of the senate committee on amending the constitutions is set to conduct a senate hearing to probe allegations that House Speaker  was involved in alleged signature payouts. Â
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