The United Negros Alliance will have to come up with a party decision on whether it will support a "people's initiative" campaign for Charter change, Gov. Joseph Marañon said yesterday.

The majority of Negros Occidental's local government officials headed by the governor and six of its congressmen are members of UNA.

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, spokesperson of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, said local government officials plan to obtain the signatures of 12 percent of the country's voting population, or of three percent of the voters of every legislative district, for a petition that would propose the Charter changes.

The signatures needed for a successful people's initiative would be a little less than five million, Evardone said.

Among the proposed charges is the controversial transitory provision that will hold off the 2007 elections until 2010.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra yesterday said he is opposed to "no elections" in 2007. Canceling the elections will only serve the vested interest of our politicians, a good number of whom are questionable, he said.

He said any people's initiative would have to truly be reflective of the will of the people and not some manipulation to serve politicians' interests.

If the Senate does not agree to Charter change, initiating a people's initiative to see that it happens could be an alternative, Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ. 3rd district) said.

The people's initiative campaign is set to be formalized at a meeting this week of ULAP members composed of governors, vice governors, mayors, vice mayors and barangay officials, Evardone said.

A people's initiative, through a petition directly proposed by the people, is one of the constitutionally approved methods to change the 1987 Constitution. The petition has to be proposed by at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three percent of its registered voters.

Any amendment proposed by this method has to be ratified in a plebiscite to be held after the Commission on Elections has certified the sufficiency of the petition.*CPG

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