Recall petition tainted with fraud - Mitra

MANILA, Philippines - Palawan Gov. Abraham Kahlil Mitra has sought the dismissal of the recall petition against him.

In a motion for reconsideration recently filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Mitra said the petition was “tainted with fraud.” He said the signatures exceeded the number of registered voters in certain areas and thousands were fraudulently obtained.

Mitra’s legal counsel, Raji Mendoza, said the governor’s right to due process had been violated.

“There is an ostensible improbability in 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,” he said.

“Recall procedures can be easily abused …as a way for sore losers to try to overturn a valid election result,“ he said, adding,“ recall must be pursued by the people, not just by one disgruntled loser in the elections or a small percentage of disenchanted electors.”

A petition for recall was filed against Mitra in September last year with the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor (PES) by a group called Kilusan Love Malampaya led by Caesar Ventura, Palawan’s former budget officer.