CHIZ SHOWS 'RESIBO' ROMUALDEZ DECLARING PLANS TO CHANGE CHARTER VIA PI

Sen. Chiz Escudero on Saturday said that House Speaker Martin Romualdez cannot feign ignorance about the lower chamber-led signature drive to amend the Constitution as he offered a video of the House leader in which the latter announced plans that they will pursue the people's initiative (PI) to change the Charter.

In that video, taken on December 11, 2023 during an event called the Philippine Economic Briefing in the province of Iloilo, Romualdez proudly announced that the recommended means to change the 37-year-old Constitution was through the PI.

"We are thinking right now of addressing the procedural gap or question on as to how we amend the Constitution. We will highly recommend that we embark on a people's initiative to cure this impasse, so to speak, on how we vote. And I hope we can undertake this as soon as possible, so we could have some clarity on the procedures," Romualdez said.

"So, we would like to amend the Constitution vis-à-vis how we procedurally amend the same. And that's either we vote jointly or separately, we would like to have the result by and through People's Initiative," Romualdez continued.

Reacting to the video, Escudero said: "This is clearly a politiko's (not a people's) initiative."

"How can Speaker Romualdez deny he is not behind this 'pekeng initiative' when he bragged about it last December and took credit for it?" Escudero said in his X (formerly Twitter) account, where he also shared the 45-second video clip of the House Speaker talking about his Charter change (Cha-cha) plan last month.

"History has taught us that nothing good comes out from anything that begins with a lie," the Bicolano senator added.

On January 23, the Senate issued a strongly worded manifesto signed by all 24 senators, rejecting the House of Representatives' bid for Cha-cha through the PI, which signature gathering has been marred by allegations of bribery and corruption, and illegal use of government programs and funds.