Antimining signatures used in recall petition of Palawan governor, says lawyer

Thousands of signatures attached to the petition for the recall of Palawan Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra were fraudulently obtained and there is proof that many signatories were asked to endorse the antimining campaign instead.

This was the claim of Mitra’s counsel, Raji Mendoza, who told the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that the number of signatures in the petition for recall exceeded the total of registered voters in certain areas.

‘‘There is an ostensible improbability of the number of registered voters who signed as supporting petitioners. There is fraud, undue influence and use of insidious machinations made apparent by the petition itself that must be taken cognizance of by the Comelec,” Mendoza said in a press statement.

He said his legal team had collected signed affidavits in which signatories declared they had been asked to sign an antimining campaign being mounted by a scion of the Lopez family.

In Rizal town, for instance, the signatories in the villages of Bunog, Campong Ulay, Culasian, Latud and Ransang exceeded the number of voters registered for the May 2010 elections, Menodza said.

‘‘This is not a case of simple clerical error. This is more than an error in computation, but is one that attaches to the very validity of the petition for recall. While CRV may have submitted more than the minimum number of supporting signatures, he, however, also produced an exaggerated number of supporting signatures, which is a blatant product of fraud,” Mitra’s counsel said.

Republic Act No. 9244, he said, specifically provides that the registered voters of the local government unit in which the respondent was elected shall support the petition for recall.

Mitra won the gubernatorial race in Palawan over logging and business mogul Pepito Alvarez in the May 2010 elections.

Mendoza added that the service of the copy of the petition and accompanying documents was improper and defective and that Mitra was denied due process.