"This is all part of a grand deception. There are several issues that the proponents of Charter change via people’s initiative are concealing from the people," Gordon said.

"Where will the money come from? How much money is being appropriated for the plebiscite? Will there be enough time for the proponents and the opponents of the proposal to discuss the issue to the public so that they will understand and would be able to vote intelligently on the proposal? Or will the measure be just rammed down the throat of a bewildered Filipino people?" Gordon asked.

Gordon said the proponents of Charter change still have to convince the people that there is a need to amend the Constitution and what amendments to introduce. He said the provision in the proposal for a shift from a bicameral congress to a unicameral parliament is too vague to be understood by the people.

He pointed out that it is not being explained to the people that when the parliamentary system is in place, they would no longer have the right to directly vote for the most important official of the land, namely, the prime minister who will be in charge of government.

"The President in a parliamentary system is only a ceremonial official, fit for cutting ribbons and reading speeches prepared by the prime minister. The real executive will be the PM who will be elected by the members of the unicameral congress," he said.

"First, is the public aware that in a parliamentary system, the people will lose their right to directly vote on their leader? That is what will happen if we revise Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution and shift to a parliamentary system, and I doubt if the people were enlightened on this point," he said.

Gordon added that amending Articles 6 and 7 constitutes a revision and not a mere amendment of the Constitution, which is clearly outside the ambit of a people’s initiative.

"The very process for revising the Constitution -- as put forward by proponents of a people’s initiative -- is not just flawed but unconstitutional," Gordon said.

He said even the use of barangay assemblies as a venue for the people’s initiative signature campaign is not valid.

"Under our Local Government Code, the barangay assembly is limited to deciding "on the adoption of initiative as a legal process whereby the registered voters of the barangay may directly propose, enact or amend any ordinance," he said. Initiative with respect to constitutional amendments is not covered, he added.

Gordon said any constitutional amendments must still be submitted to the people in a plebiscite, which will be under the watch of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

"But if the Comelec is distrusted by the people because of its perceived failure to prevent massive electoral fraud in the past, how can we have a reliable plebiscite?

He said " the integrity and credibility of the Comelec and its ability to give us clean, honest and fair elections must be addressed before we can even begin talking about Charter change."