Palawan group leads move to oust gov through recall

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—A nongovernment organization filed Thursday a recall petition against Palawan Gov. Salvador Mitra, citing lack of confidence and accusing Mitra of compromising Palawan’s interest over the Malampaya gas project.

The petition, containing the signatures of 158,889 voters from various parts of the province, was filed by the Kilusan Love Malampaya (KLM), headed by Caesar Ventura, at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections.

Palawan has a total voting population of over 334,000.

In a statement released yesterday, KLM accused Mitra of having “compromised” Palawan’s interest in negotiating with the national government for a share of the Malampaya royalty.

“Governor Mitra did not show any sincerity in addressing the real issues of Malampaya,” said the statement.

“Instead, he concentrated on how he could get financial assistance from the national government,” the KLM said.

The national government and Palawan are at odds over the disposition of a chunk of an estimated P60 billion of royalty paid to the government by the Malampaya consortium operating the natural gas project in offshore northern Palawan close to the municipality of El Nido.

KLM, a group which has been lobbying for Palawan’s full share of the royalty, blasted Mitra and the previous provincial administration’s decision to accept Malacañang’s offer of a significantly smaller portion of what was supposedly the legal share of Palawan.

In the last five years, the province received at least P3 billion in the form of pork barrel for key local officials.