Comelec disqualifies Mitra

MANILA, Philippines - The First Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday disqualified Palawan second district Rep. Abraham Khalil Mitra from the gubernatorial race in the province.

In a 10-page resolution penned by Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, the First Division gave weight to the arguments of petitioners Antonio Gonzales and Orlando Balbon Jr. that Mitra was lacking in residency requirement to become Palawan governor.

The petitioners noted that Mitra is a resident of Puerto Princesa City whose residents no longer vote for Palawan governor when it ceased to become a component city of the province – but not of Aborlan town.

But lawyer Sixto Brillantes, Mitra’s legal counsel, told the panel that he would file a motion for reconsideration to have the ruling reversed.

In a statement, Mitra said they were already expecting the decision, especially in view of the leakage of the supposed ruling in Palawan over the weekend.

Mitra said he is a three-term congressman of Palawan and that he merely moved his residency from Puerto Princesa City to the “next-door municipality” of Aborlan in March 2009.

“They didn’t protest my change of registration last year (in) March... The law requires a year of residency so that (a) candidate must be first familiar with the local conditions. I dare to challenge anyone to prove that I am not familiar with the conditions of Aborlan or the entire Palawan for that matter,” he added.

Mitra, who is pitted against businessman Jose Pepito Alvarez in the gubernatorial race, said he would elevate the matter before the Supreme Court.

The resolution showed that Mitra failed to establish his residency in Aborlan town.

“Although the law imposes no property qualification on anyone who seeks to run as governor, an appreciation of the respondent’s alleged ‘residence’ through the evidence he presented is key in enabling us to determine whether the same is truly his home and residence,” it further stated.

The First Division ruled that the pictures of Mitra’s residence, which he himself presented, were “telling.”

“The ‘residence’ appears hastily set up, cold and utterly devoid of any personality which would have imprinted Mitra’s personality thereto such as old family photographs and memorabilia collected through the years. In fact an appreciation of Mitra’s supposed ‘residence’ raises doubts whether or not he indeed lives there,” the resolution stated.

The ruling also showed that the sworn statements of Mitra’s witnesses appeared “to have been prepared by the same person... having used similar wordings, allegations and contents.”   – With Delon Porcalla and Jess Diaz