PIRMA: Donors for charter change TV ad don't want names revealed

Members of the Senate employees union picket in front of the Senate building in Pasay City on Feb.1, 2024. Senators have previously called out against the ongoing signature campaign, calling it a brazen attempt to violate the Constitution. ABS-CBN News/Mark DemayoMANILA — Donors and volunteers who contributed towards a P55-million TV ad blaming the 1987 Constitution for the country's problems and proposing Charter change do not want their names made public, PIRMA lead convenor Noel Oñate said Tuesday.

The Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation. had directed Oñate to submit a list of donors for the ad, which had stirred up controversy and had signaled the revival of a signature campaign to revise the Constitution,

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"I have all the intention of fulfilling with the submission... [But] they did not want to reveal their names. They are concerned about their security and privacy,” Oñate told the panel.

He said PIRMA donors and volunteers decided to withdraw their contributions because of the controversy, forcing him return P28 million he solicited for the TV ads.

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He submitted a photocopy of his bank withdrawal slips to the committee.

Sen. Imee Marcos, chair of the committee, said Oñate should still submit his “Donor’s List" and the official receipt for the TV ad.

PIRMA legal counsel Alex Avisado meanwhile named a certain Atty. Red Tuazon as the one who knows the overall operation of their group.

Anthony Abad, whose name appears in the People's Initiative signature forms, also appeared during the hearing.

"I am not part of PIRMA. But I am assisting as an advisor of the groups that are signing this petition," he said.

PIRMA REGISTRATION REVOKED IN 2004

Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) meanwhile showed that PIRMA's registration as an organization had been revoked as early as 2004.

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SEC lawyer Katrina Jean Miranda told the panel that PIRMA was originally registered on March 12, 1997 but missed yearly requirements like the submission of annual reports to the commission. This led the its registration being revoked.

Neither Oñate nor the Gana Atienza and Avisado Law Offices appear in SEC records of PIRMA.

Avisado explained that they applied “online” for the reactivation of PIRMA's registration, but that they only did that this month.

"The proper process is to file the petition to lift the order of revocation and not to submit online," Miranda told the panel.

Oñate later on admitted to the committee that while their main goal is to push people’s initiative for the Senate and the House of Representatives to “vote jointly” on constitutional amendments, he doesn’t know what will happen to Congress after.

The Senate opposes the proposal, which would mean its 24 members would be easily outnumbered by the House of Representatives.

ANOTHER AID PROGRAM?

In the same hearing, senators' curiosities were piqued by what they saw as a sudden creation of another government aid program dubbed AKAP or Abot-Kamay ang Pagtulong, which received a budget allocation of P26.7 billion allocation this year.

Marcos quizzed DSWD Undersecretary Fatima Aliah Dimaporo about the sudden budget allotment for AKAP program, which the senator claimed was never discussed during their budget bicameral meeting last December.

Dimaporo admitted that they were also “surprised” by the allocation for AKAP and that they are still working on the guidelines for the program.