Comelec chief’s estranged wife to pursue plunder raps

FILE: Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista may face a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman whether he resigns from his post or gets impeached, as his estranged wife, Patricia “Tish” Bautista, would still pursue cases against him for nearly a billion pesos of allegedly ill-gotten wealth. (PNA Photo)

MANILA — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista may face a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman whether he resigns from his post or gets impeached, as his estranged wife, Patricia “Tish” Bautista, would still pursue cases against him for nearly a billion pesos of allegedly ill-gotten wealth.

Bautista may have already tendered his resignation letter but lawyer Lorna Kapunan, lawyer of Patricia, said they would still pursue the filing of a plunder case against him.

“We will file plunder (case). The impeachment will only remove him from his position,” Kapunan said.

Kapunan explained that if the Comelec chairman would be impeached, he only has to vacate his position, but to make him accountable for the alleged crimes he has committed, cases would have to be filed against Bautista in court.

“Criminal cases have to be filed against him, some members of his family, Smartmatic, Divina Law Firm managing partner Nilo Divina, and the Luzon Development Bank,” she said.

The embattled Comelec chief is also facing impeachment before Congress after 137 lawmakers at the House of Representatives voted to forward the complaint against him to the Senate, which will now act as an impeachment court.

Bautista is the first Comelec chairman to be impeached by Congress.

In the meantime, Kapunan said they are awaiting the results of the investigation currently being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against Bautista.

“We are awaiting the report of the NBI on the evidence Patricia turned over to them,” she said.

In the affidavit Patricia filed before the NBI, she alleged her husband has 35 bank accounts amounting to more than PHP300 million with the Luzon Development Bank; has a foreign currency account and a peso account amounting to USD12,778.30 with the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC); and HKD948,358.97 with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC).

Among her many accusations, Patricia also claimed University of Sto. Tomas (UST) law dean Nilo Divina had been giving commissions to Bautista. Divina’s law office had been the law firm of Smartmatic, which supplied Comelec with its vote-counting machines.

At the moment, Bautista could not be charged since he is immune from suit as Comelec chairman.

Bautista denied all of these allegations, stressing that the issue is only a marital dispute. In response to his wife’s tirades, he filed charges for coercion, qualified theft and robbery among others, against her at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said that the NBI may also serve as a complainant against Bautista, explaining that the bureau is also conducting its own probe into the allegations of unexplained wealth.

Last August, Aguirre tapped the NBI to probe the Comelec chief’s alleged failure to declare passbooks, bank documents and real property documents in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

The allegations stemmed from the affidavit of Patricia Bautista that was filed with the NBI last Aug. 1, five days after she reportedly met with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Aguirre signed Department Order No. 517 on Aug. 7 giving the NBI the authority to investigate and do a case build-up into the allegations of corruption.

He explained that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will only hear criminal complaints against Bautista if the complainants decide to pursue them before his department.

Aguirre said it would be up to Patricia and the NBI if they would file cases against the Comelec chairman.

“It’s the complainants who will pursue. We will just hear the case if it’s filed before the DOJ,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre explained that Bautista, despite being a Comelec chief, is an impeachable official and can still be subjected to criminal investigation.

The findings of the NBI’s probe may be used as evidence in the impeachment proceedings against Bautista before the Senate, Aguirre said.