MANILA — The local offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday received more signature forms for the People’s Initiative that seeks to amend the 1987 Constitution.

In Quezon City, the Comelec District 2 office received signature forms with an estimated 21,000 signatures as of Thursday morning.

Election officers were still in the process of counting the signatures, as of this posting. They need to doublecheck the count before issuing a certification that they received a specific number of signatures.

On Monday, the local office received forms with some 14,000 signatures.

In Navotas, the Comelec office received 4,457 pages of forms last Saturday containing 30,673 signatures.

In total, the Comelec has received forms from about 600 cities and municipalities, said its Chairman George Garcia.

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The initiative is seeking to amend the 1987 Charter and authorize senators and congressmen to vote together in amending the constitution.

The petition needs to signed by at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters. Each legislative district must also be represented by at least 3 percent of registered voters.

Currently, there are over 67 million registered voters in the Philippines.

Garcia said even if the petition meets the 12-percent requirement but fails to get 3 percent even in just one district, it will immediately be dismissed.

Once the required number of signatories is reached, and after the petition is published twice in newspapers, the general voting public will head to a referendum to decide whether or not they approve of the proposal.

It should be voted favorably by the majority of voters for it to be enacted. It will be effective 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

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If the people's initiative succeeds, it would lead to the 24 votes of the Senate being overwhelmed by the over 300-man House should they amend the Charter.

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in December said he ordered a study on whether the country's constitution needed to be revised to draw more foreign investment.

Philippine law bans foreign equity in mass media and small-scale retail trade.

Foreigners are also limited to minority ownership in broadcasting, advertising, public utilities, private land and residential building ownership, schools, and deep-sea fishing, among others.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez has separately said he would push for changes to the economic provisions of the constitution in 2024.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse