Mitra: No theft of Malampaya funds
Palawan Gov. Abraham Khalil Mitra on Saturday vehemently denied allegations made in the recall petition filed against him with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), calling them “baseless and misleading, if not totally malicious.”
In a press statement, Mitra, a first-term Liberal Party governor, stressed that “there are no fund releases from Malampaya for Palawan as of now.”
Petitioners had alleged that the “Malampaya money should be used according to what is the law, that a significant portion of the amount should be used to alleviate our energy situation.”
Caesar Ventura, former provincial budget officer and head of the nongovernment organization Kilusang Love Malampaya (KLM), filed the recall petition against Mitra.
He called Ventura’s statement “misleading and baseless” and stressed in his reply that although he has been “persistent in seeking the release of the fund,” Malacañang has made no commitment whether it would release Palawan’s claim on the Malampaya fund.
Mitra also zeroed in on the allegation that he had not done anything to investigate what the petitioner called the “theft of P500 million from the Malampaya funds…”
“What theft of Malampaya funds? No such thing,” Mitra said, stressing that the alleged irregularities as claimed by the petitioner had “transpired” when Mitra was not yet governor.
“True, there was a special audit conducted and the audit is still pending and not yet completed,” Mitra said.
“There is no COA final report as of yet. Why would I initiate an investigation when it is presently within the jurisdiction of COA?”
Mitra added that it was within his right to defend himself against malicious insinuations and libel when the governor filed a criminal complaint against Dr. Antonio Socrates. “The fact is that there is a prima facie case for libel against Dr. Socrates and the case is now pending in court,” he pointed out.
“Why should it be taken against me if I enforced my right to vindicate himself from malicious allegations of corruption?” Mitra further said.
