Recall petition filed vs Bulacan governor

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) confirmed yesterday that a recall petition has been filed against Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado. 

The recall petition was filed less than a year after Alvarado ran unopposed in his first reelection in 2013. 

Lawyer Elmo Duque, Bulacan provincial election supervisor, said the petition, which bore 319,777 signatures, was filed by Perlita Mendoza, who served as provincial administrator from 2007 to 2009 under the administration of former governor, now third district Rep. Joselito Mendoza.

Duque said the 54-page recall petition and 84 boxes of signed documents were submitted to his office on Monday morning. 

Duque said a recall petition requires the signatures of 10 percent of the voting population of the province.

Based on initial assessment, he said nearly 20 percent of the voting population of Bulacan signed the petition, he said.

Citing a certification from the National Statistics Office that was submitted along with the petition, Duque said the actual voting population of Bulacan is 1,830,698.

He said one of the bases for a recall election is loss of confidence in a sitting local official. 

According to Duque, they now have three days to verify the form and substance of the submitted documents. After that, the verified petition will be submitted to the office of the poll body’s deputy director for operations, which will also have three days to conduct its own verification, he added. 

The deputy director will then submit the verified document to the Comelec commissioners who will decide if there is funding for the recall election. 

Asked if the recall will prosper, Duque said this will depend on the availability of funds.

He noted that Comelec earlier had verified the form and substance of the recall petition against Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucio Bayron but decided to put it on hold due to lack of funds.