Proponents of the people's initiative for Charter change yesterday produced more than enough signatures to meet the required 3 percent for the lone congressional district of Bacolod City.

Each congressional district in the country must produce signatures of 3 percent of their voting population in order for the people's initiative to prosper, House Speaker Jose de Venecia has said.

The Lakas Pinoy yesterday submitted to the Commission on Elections more signatures bringing the initial 5,124 from 18 Bacolod barangays up to more than 27,000 from 58 barangays for verification, Daisy Real, COMELEC provincial supervisor said.

Aside from Bacolod, signatures from 18 other towns and cities in Negros Occidental had been submitted to the COMELEC for verification as of yesterday, she said.

These are from Bago, Talisay, Cadiz, Escalante, Kabankalan, Silay, Sipalay and Victorias cities, and Binalbagan, Calatrava, Cauayan, Ilog, Isabela, La Castellana, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, Don Salvador Benedicto and Valladolid towns.

Acting Gov. Isidro Zayco said that, inspite of allegations that signatures in support of people's initiative he has not received any actual complaints. So I really do not know if that is true or not, he said.

"I cannot understand why signatures need to be bought, that is senseless, if people want to support the people's initiative that is okay and if they do not want it they should not be forced," he said.

The Negros Occidental Sanggunian had earlier passed a resolution favoring charter change through a constitutional convention, he said.

Zayco said he has not signed the document in support of the people's initiative document because he just wants to see what the true sentiments of the people are without influencing them by his actions.*CPG

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