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MANILA — The ongoing people's initiative should be dismissed by the Commission on Elections as "unconstitutional," former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Thursday.

The people's initiative, one of three ways to revise the constitution, can only introduce amendments — not revisions — to the charter, said Carpio, citing provisions in the 1987 Constitution and a 2006 Supreme Court case, Lambino v. Comelec, he penned.

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A signature campaign under the people's initiative push is underway, and there is no petition yet lodged before the Comelec.

Under the initiative, senators and congressmen will vote jointly on charter change proposals, instead of separately as two houses of Congress, which would dilute the Senate's vote of 24 members when combined with the House of Representatives' over 300 lawmakers.

Carpio said the people's initiative "only speaks of amendment" while the other two modes to change the charter — constitutional convention and constituent assembly — can propose both an amendment and a revision to the constitution.

In the Lambino v. Comelec case, Carpio wrote that "when you alter the check and balance in Congress, that is a revision."

"There are several decisions in the US saying that when you alter the check and balance, in Congress or the government, that is a revision. It cannot be the subject of an amendment," he said.

• People's Initiative threatens legislative checks and balances: Carpio

Revising the Constitution needs a deliberative body, Carpio pointed out.

A constituent assembly is composed of the members of Congress while delegates to previous constitutional conventions were elected at the legislative district level.

"There must be debates and you need a recorded proceeding," he said. "It's not practical to include the revision of the constitution in a people’s initiative because there is no debate."

Carpio said the Comelec should dismiss the impending petition because according to its Resolution 10650, "people's initiative cannot include a constitutional revision, only an amendment."

"If it allows this petition, if it verifies the signatures, the oppositors can go to the Supreme Court," he said.

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