Phillipines: Puerto Princesa recall scheduled for May 8

The recall of Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron has been scheduled for May 8, which will just be under the deadline (they can't hold a recall within one year of the May 9 elections). 22,326 signatures were upheld out of 32,418. Comelec (the election commission) is looking at the high number of invalids.

n an effort to avoid being caught by the one-year prohibition for recall elections, the Commission on Elections is looking to conduct on May 8 such a process for the mayoral post of Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

The law bars Comelec from holding recall elections within one year before the May 9, 2016 local and national polls.

“The en banc is setting the recall elections on May 8. The calendar of activities is just being finalized,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Tuesday.

Last week, the poll body had declared the number of valid signatures in the recall petition filed by Al Roben Go against Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron was sufficient to merit the holding of such a recall election.

The local Comelec office in Puerto Princesa had determined that 22,326 signatures validated - out of 32,418 signatures on the petition - were valid.  This finding was upheld by the Comelec en banc.

Meanwhile, the Comelec will still investigate the presence of 10,092 invalid signatures on the petition, describing as “disturbing and worrisome" that "such a substantial number of invalid signatures have been presented before the commission to support the recall petition