Practice question
Organizers obtain the required national and district signature percentages on sheets asking whether voters favor an independent ethics commission. The sheets neither contain nor attach the proposed constitutional text. After collecting signatures, the organizers draft provisions fixing the commission's powers and insert them into the petition submitted to COMELEC. Assuming the other requirements are met, what is the principal defect under the main decision in Lambino?
- There is no defect because organizers may write any text after signature gathering.
- The signatories did not directly propose the actual text because it was not contained in or attached to the petition they signed.
- Every initiative must first be approved by the President.
- Only lawyers may sign a constitutional initiative.
- A constitutional initiative can never address an ethics commission regardless of its contents.
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution, Article XVII Section 2: https://lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html
- Lambino v. COMELEC, G.R. Nos. 174153 and 174299, October 25, 2006, main decision, direct proposal and full text: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2006/oct2006/gr_174153_2006.html
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