House body declares Bautista impeachment ‘moot and academic’

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chair, said he had received the letter signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, dated October 23, that Bautista’s resignation had been accepted by President Rodrigo Duterte. (Photo: Atty. Reynaldo “RU” Umali/Facebook)

MANILA — The impeachment bid against former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista has been rendered “moot and academic” following his resignation, the House Committee on Justice declared on Tuesday.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chair, said he had received the letter signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, dated October 23, that Bautista’s resignation had been accepted by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“There was an offer, there was an acceptance, so there is now a meeting of the minds. This meeting of the minds rendered this matter finished,” he said.

Umali expressed gratitude to the President for his “swift and decisive action” in accepting Bautista’s resignation.

He said this is “good news” for his panel and perhaps in the Senate as it would “relieve us of the many things that we ought to do.”

“Perhaps this meeting will be anti-climactic after the acceptance of the resignation which was made effective by the President as of yesterday,” Umali said.

The House Justice Committee was supposed to deliberate on the articles of impeachment against Bautista after the plenary voted 137-75-2 to impeach him.

House Justice committee vice chair Doy Leachon required Bautista’s lawyers to submit within the day his conformity on representation and determine the effectivity date of his resignation.

“The proceedings of this committee will definitely be moot and academic after the submission of the required documents,” Leachon added.

Former congressman Jacinto Paras and Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio sought the ouster of Bautista on the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.

The complainants said Bautista betrayed public trust for his failure to prevent the data breach or hacking of the Comelec website, failure to properly declare his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN),  and reported receipt of referral fees from the Divina Law firm.