I am not disqualified - Mitra

Governor-elect Abraham Kahlil Mitra reacted to reports stating that the Supreme Court (SC) had already disqualified him as candidate for Palawan’s gubernatorial race.

Rumors about Mitra being disqualified by the high court were circulating for the past days. The decision was even published in some newspapers, the rumors said.

“We should not believe these stories. The election is over and our people are growing tired with this kind of reports circulating,” Mitra said over radio station DYPR.

He also raised doubt over the rumored decision since the SC was in vacation, he said.

“The case would still undergo a long process since the court was asking for some documents to be presented to them,” Mitra related. He also stressed that “I was not disqualified. Let’s just wait for the court’s decision before saying anything.”

Mitra also called for his political rivals to just unite and work for the good of the people and the province.

“They were claiming that they were helping Palaweños in many ways. Why don’t they just do what they were doing before the elections? Let us all focus on helping the Palaweños,” he said.

Mitra’s closest rival during the automated polls was businessman Jose Pepito Alvarez who was known for his JCA Foundation which gives free medical services for the needy.

Despite his disqualification, Mitra was able to join the May 2010 polls after the SC issued a status quo ante order enjoining the decision of the Comelec to cancel his certificate of candidacy three days before elections.

The case rooted from a suit filed by Antonio Gonzales and Orlando Balbon Jr saying that the congressman still lived in Puerto Princesa City despite his transfer of residency to the municipality of Aborlan.

Residents of Puerto Princesa, being a highly-urbanized city, could no longer vote nor run for provincial posts.

Last week, former Senate president Jovito Salonga, Mitra’s collaborating counsel, filed a motion to the SC requesting for a favorable decision on the disqualification case.

Mitra is a full-blooded Palaweño - Salonga

Governor-elect Abraham Kahlil Mitra appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) to negate the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualifying him as candidate for the gubernatorial race on the May 2010 polls.

Former senate president Jovito Salonga, Mitra’s collaborating counsel, said in a five-page petition that the candidate’s transfer of residency should not be based on the physical appearance of his abode.

The Comelec said in its ruling that Mitra’s declared residence in Aborlan, being a barely-furnished farmhouse, was not fit for a congressman. Salonga argued that it was not a sufficient legal basis for the congressman’s disqualification.

”The determination of whether a person has changed his residence is primarily a question of his intention and not of the suitability of the living conditions,” Salonga said.

He pointed that “what is required is a candidate’s intimacy with the place where he is seeking election or his possession of a detailed knowledge or deep understanding of the locality and its people.”

“There is no doubt that he is aware and acquainted with its needs as a community and there is no reason to consider him a “stranger” or  a “newcomer” in Aborlan or, for that matter, the whole Province of Palawan,” Salonga furthered.

Mitra had served as congressman of Palawan’s second district, which includes the municipality of Aborlan and Puerto Princesa City where he was formerly registered, for nine years before running for governor.

Salonga argued that the residency requirement was still complied since Aborlan is a part of the province and the district where Mitra served. He also stressed that “Mitra has been a full-blooded Palaweño for all his life.”  

Mitra was proclaimed governor of Palawan on May 14.

Despite the Comelec ruling, he was allowed to have his votes counted in the automated elections due to a status quo ante order issued by the Supreme Court on May 7.