Are the 20K Petition Signatures Legit?

While on the phone with us, we asked Minister Habet about the authenticity of the signatures that have been garnered and what is the process being used to determine that the petitions were in fact endorsed by persons who qualify as residents, voters or adults.

Isani Cayetano

“What legitimacy do these signatures have? Are these persons who are constituents of Port Loyola?  Are these persons who are considered adults, eighteen and above? What are we looking at here and what validation does this have from either an NGO that deals with conservation and environmental matters?”

On the phone: Orlando Habet

On the phone: Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development

 “That same question crossed my mind. I am not certain, I haven’t looked at them, I didn’t want to open them because I think that I needed to present it to the prime minister because they were given to me to present to the prime minister, so that’s what I am going to do on Tuesday. My understanding is that it has the names of the persons and phone numbers. I don’t know what else it has, I haven’t really looked at them. But the same concerns, if these are voters, if these are eighteen-year-old people or over. My understanding though is that it’s not only people from the Port Loyola area. My understanding is that it’s petitions that come from countrywide. I am not certain either of what input the NGOs have in it, we were hoping to have meetings also with the NGOs because we need to have meetings also, especially those who are in the marine area.”