Palawan gov asked not to delay recall process

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—A group pushing recall elections to unseat Palawan Gov. Abraham Kahlil Mitra asked the governor to stop delaying the recall process so he could find out for himself whether or not the signatures attached to the recall petition were genuine or fake.

Mitra, in an interview yesterday, said many of the more than 150,000 signatures attached to the petition were fraudulent.

Cesar Ventura, chair of the group Kilusang Love Malampaya (KLM) and one of the recall petitioners, dismissed Mitra’s claim and urged the governor “to stop delaying the Commission on Elections (Comelec) hearings so that actual verification of the signatures can push through.”

Mitra accused KLM of being behind the fraudulent signatures. “We will expose the fraudulent means of securing those signatures,” Mitra said.

“If he’s saying that we submitted fraudulent signatures, then he better instruct his lawyers to stop their dilatory tactics so we can proceed right away to verification,” said Ventura.

The Comelec had given Mitra five days to answer the recall proponents’ opposition to the governor’s bid to reverse a Comelec ruling declaring the recall petition sufficient in form and substance.

The group seeking Mitra’s ouster cited “loss of confidence” as one of the reasons the governor should be subject to recall elections.