Guidelines for the Peoples initiative Campaign23 August 2014 Peoples Congress, Cebu City

Peoples Initiative (P.I.) is a direct exercise by the people of the sovereign power reserved by the Philippine Constitution to enact legislation.

The failure if not refusal of the President and the Philippine Congress to abolish and criminalize the corruption-riddled pork barrel system compels us to embark on the P.I. Thus, we have come up with a proposed P.I. bill An Act Abolishing the Pork Barrel System which prohibits, criminalizes and penalizes the appropriation and use of any form of pork barrel.

10% nationwide and 3% per legislative signatures requirements The immense challenge is to gather the signatures of more than 10% of the total number of registered voters in the country, with at least 3% in all legislative districts, to be able to put this P.I. bill to a vote in a referendum called for the purpose.

A simple majority of the votes in a referendum results in the passage of the Act Abolishing the Pork Barrel System. This is a tall order but we are determined to push and win the P.I. campaign, starting with a massive education and signature drive.

The Peoples Initiative Against Pork Barrel (PIAP) must mobilize its constituencies to be at the forefront of this campaign and harness the enthusiasm and voluntarism of the people.

Activities to educate and gather signatures

We will be making use of various activities, including but not limited to:

1. Mobilize our constituents and volunteers to conduct house to-house signature drives in target populous places. 2. PIAP will call and organize sign-up days nationwide and in particular regions, provinces, cities and districts from time to time. The P.I. campaign will kick-off this August 23 during a rally in Cebu City after the holding of the Peoples Congress.

3. Get the cooperation of concerned groups and individuals to set-up signature stations in churches, schools, malls, public plazas, market places, etc.

4. Collect signatures or set-up signing stations, whatever during big occasions or gatherings of people, in cooperation with the organizers of such gatherings.

5. Maximize the media and the new media to inform the people, counter anti-P.I. propaganda, gather widest support and enlist and mobilize as many volunteers.

Steps to secure the 3% and 10% signature requirements

The 234 legislative districts in the country can be characterized by the following: (i) The typical are those districts comprising several municipalities/component cities; (ii) There are some provinces and chartered cities with only one legislative district; and (ii) There are big provinces and highly urbanized chartered cities with two or more districts.

There should always be three copies of the P.I. signature sheets. Voters should sign every sheet which will go to Comelec and the PIAP respective secretariat headquarters.

1. Ensure that registered voters, in general, sign the PI petition signature sheets/folders prepared for their congressional district they will sign three signature sheets.2. Ask voters to sign in signature sheets/folders prepared for their municipality or their province/city with one legislative district. 3. In big provinces and cities with two or more legislative districts, direct voters to sign signature sheets/folders prepared for their particular legislative district.

4. Provide signature sheets/folders for big provinces and cities regardless of congressional districts. Urge voters who do not know or cannot go to their district to sign on the said sheets.

The first three points will enable us and the Comelec to gather and determine if we have already met the 3% district signature requirement and the fourth guideline will complement the effort to get the 10% nationwide signature requirement.

To maximize limited resources, we may focus our P.I. campaign to get the 3% and 10% signatures requirement in one, two, three or four top municipalities and big barangays.

Submit the P.I. signatures collected every month to respective Comelec offices in the province, city and municipality for their verification and certification.

P.I. petition signature sheet/folder, tarpaulin and flyers

Mass reproduce the P.I. petition signature sheets and folders, with 10 - 20 signature sheets per folder. To prevent fraud, printing should be done by the Coordinating Committees/Secretariats.

Print (3 ft x 6 ft) tarpaulins that contain the summary of P.I. Act Abolishing Pork Barrel. Display the tarpaulins in sign up stations, big gatherings, and populated areas.

Translate in local dialect and distribute the flyers and produce posters and streamers encouraging people to sign up and volunteer for the P.I. campaign.

Monitoring, Reporting and Continuing Signature Drive

Monitor the status of signature drive in your area of responsibility and make timely report to the PIAP National Coordinating Committee / Joint General Secretariat. Continue collecting signatures even if the 10-20% target is reached, until the advised by the NCC/NGS to stop. #