(UPDATE) SEN. Maria Imelda Josefa "Imee" Marcos on Friday said she believes her cousin, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, is stage-managing the signature campaign for the People's Initiative (PI).

In a virtual press conference, Marcos said it was Romualdez's office that provided P20 million for each district for gathering the needed number of signatures to get the People's Initiative going.

She said that while Romualdez has denied involvement in the signature campaign, the names, mobile phone numbers, and funds used could be traced to the Office of the Speaker.

In his own press briefing at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City on Friday, Romualdez said Marcos' claim was "baseless."

"Nagmamarites siguro or nakikinig sa marites (Maybe she listens to rumormongers). I'd like her to prove it, and she has the proper means and ways she can go to to prove it," he said.

Romualdez said he has "hardly spoken" with his cousin, including during the holiday season, since she was out of town.

He said he still respects Marcos as a senator and as a relative, and that he is open to receiving calls or texts from her.

Senator Marcos said her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., was aware that Romualdez could be involved in the signature campaign.

She said the President was informed about it before Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri filed Resolution of Both Houses 6, which would limit constitutional amendments to the economic provisions.

The President told the speaker to stop the signature campaign and instead support RBH 6, Senator Marcos said.

During a meeting with the President last January 11, the Senate and House leaders agreed to the filing of RBH 6.

But because the signature gathering continues, "the Senate was forced to halt its own Cha-cha resolution," Senator Marcos said.

On January 15, the Senate unanimously approved a manifesto opposing the People's Initiative, saying the process will undermine the country's democracy by proposing that Congress vote jointly on revising the Constitution.

"This singular and seemingly innocuous change in the Constitution will open the floodgates to a wave of amendments and revisions that will erode the nation as we know it," the senators warned.

"To allow joint voting will destroy the delicate balance on which our hard-won democracy rests. It will destabilize the principle of bicameralism and our system of checks and balances," they said.

The Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People's Participation that Marcos chairs has invited legal experts, members of the academe, and other personalities to its public hearing on the People's Initiative to be held in Davao City on January 30.

Asked if Romualdez was invited to the hearing, Marcos said everyone who wishes to express their opinion on the issue is welcome to attend.

Romualdez, meanwhile, talked about the letter he sent to Zubiri assuring the House's support for RBH 6.

"We are now expressing our unity and solidarity with the Senate that we as one legislature can work together towards our common goal of uplifting the Philippine economy and lives of Filipino people, like creating a better economic climate and environment to attract foreign investors to create jobs and livelihoods. That's the basic gist of the letter," Romualdez said.

If the Senate passes the resolution, Romualdez said, the House will "expeditiously consider it" to be adopted immediately.

Also on Friday, an advocate of a federalist government for the Philippines said the country lags behind its neighbors economically because the Constitution has become outdated.

Orion Pérez Dumdum, principal co-founder of the Constitutional Reform and Rectification for Economic Competitiveness and Transformation (CoRRECT) Movement, said that by empowering the regions through federalism, Metro Manila will be decongested.

"If we can amend the Constitution to allow for the Philippines to evolve towards federalism, through gradual region-based decentralization, the regions and provinces can develop economically and the capital (National Capital Region) can be decongested," Dumdum told a forum in Quezon City.

He likened the Constitution to the operating system of a cellular phone or computer that must be regularly upgraded to catch up with innovations.

"Our 1987 Constitution has not undergone even the smallest revision, like changing a comma, a period. It's already out-dated, and it's time to upgrade our own operating system," he said.

He lamented that the "protectionist" provisions in the Constitution pushed millions of Filipinos to seek employment abroad due to lack of opportunities at home.

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