Lawyer named on Cha-cha signature form says he's not part of PIRMA

This is from news selected image.

Lawyer Anthony Abad, whose name was on the signature forms for the controversial people’s initiative campaign, has clarified that he is not a member of Charter change advocacy group People’s Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA).

Abad faced the Senate electoral reforms and people’s participation committee on Tuesday after he was subpoenaed by the panel last Jan. 30.

“I’m really not part of PIRMA, not organizationally or a member of it. My role is really as an advisor on constitutional reform if this petition ever prospers,” Abad told the Senate panel.

Being a professor of international economic law, Abad said he has been a longtime advocate of constitutional reform and he has been doing this for PIRMA on a “voluntary basis.”

“So I have been promoting constitutional reform and advocating it since the period of President Fidel Ramos,” he said, adding that he had worked with some of the individuals who were registered as PIRMA incorporators in 1997.

Asked why his name appeared on the signature forms for the people’s initiative, Abad said it was because of the alphabetical order.

“It’s actually a curse of the alphabetical [order], my name, you know, being triple ‘A.’ It happened that the signature form came out with only one name, just mine and just an ‘et al,'” he said.

Abad said the other names that were supposed to appear on the signature forms are former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin, PIRMA lead convenor Noel Oñate, former Court of Appeals Justice and former Leyte Representative Vicente Veloso III, and another member of the Constitutional Reform Movement.

Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of the Senate committee, found Abad’s claim that he was not a member of PIRMA to be “problematic.”

“It’s just problematic to me. I actually have the transcript of Oñate’s testimony which he said, ‘Si Anthony Abad ay kasama namin sa professional sector ng PIRMA. Ang PIRMA ay maraming components, mayroong farmers, professional, etcetera. Si Anthony Abad ay isa sa mga volunteer sa aming professional sector,'”  Marcos said.

(It’s just problematic to me. I actually have the transcript of Oñate’s testimony, which he said, ‘Anthony Abad is with us in PIRMA’s professional sector. PIRMA has many components, like farmers, professionals, etcetera. Anthony Abad is one of our volunteers in our professional sector.)

Further, Abad explained that he has no hand in the operations of the people’s initiative efforts and he was only there to share his research and his knowledge on Charter change.

On the prodding of Dela Roas, Abad apologized to the people who were promised financial aid in exchange for their signatures for Charter change.

Asked if he would withdraw his name on the signature forms if given a chance, Abad says he will still keep supporting it or any Charter change initiative.

The signature campaign led by PIRMA specifically asks voters if they are in favor of amending Article 17 Section 1 of the Constitution by allowing all members of Congress to jointly vote on proposed constitutional amendments.

This amendment is a departure to an existing provision which does not explicitly state whether the House of Representatives and the Senate should vote jointly or separately on proposed amendments to the Charter via a constituent assembly.

These efforts to amend the Constitution via people’s initiative have become controversial after several lawmakers disclosed that signatories were allegedly bribed or promised government aid in exchange for their signatures.

The senators slammed these efforts, which they believed were supported by the House of Representatives, particularly Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Romualdez had denied involvement in unlawful activities, such as vote-buying in relation to the people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

However, the Speaker confirmed that he had met with Oñate in his townhouse.

The Senate unanimously released a manifesto against the present people’s initiative efforts, saying the House is out to abolish the Senate given that the document for signature asks voters if they are in favor of amending the Charter to allow members of Congress to jointly vote on constitutional amendments, a setup which would consider the vote of 24 senators and more than 300 House members.

The Commission on Elections had already ordered the suspension of all proceedings related to people’s initiative. — VDV/RF, GMA Integrated News

This article Lawyer named on Cha-cha signature form says he’s not part of PIRMA was originally published in GMA News Online.