{"id":114498,"date":"2017-08-28T05:06:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T09:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=114498"},"modified":"2017-08-28T05:06:41","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T09:06:41","slug":"poll-body-to-function-even-if-bautista-goes-on-leave-2-execs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/28\/poll-body-to-function-even-if-bautista-goes-on-leave-2-execs\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll body to function even if Bautista goes on leave: 2 execs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE<\/a>
FILE PHOTO\/Comelec (Photo: Philippine News Agency)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 Two top officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured that the poll body’s en banc will still function once Chairman Juan Andres Bautista decides to take a leave of absence.<\/p>\n

Senior Commissioner Christian Robert Lim noted that they just need to get at least four votes to confirm an action.<\/p>\n

“Yes,\u00a0kaya naman<\/em>.\u00a0Kailangan lang naman namin kasi sa en banc ay<\/em>\u00a0direction (on) how to move forward. (Yes, we can function. What we just need in the en bacn is direction (on) how to move forward). We have a process. We still vote on a base of majority of four to carry out any action,” Lim explained.<\/p>\n

Asked if he will accept the position if again designated as acting chairman, Lim said, “Mahirap ang trabaho ng acting chairman.\u00a0<\/em>(The job of the acting chairman is difficult.) I am retiring February 2 of next year. I was looking forward to finish my career quietly with a new baby, finish my cases.”<\/p>\n

“Pero kung ‘yun ang kinakailangan ng<\/em>\u00a0institution, to work full time,\u00a0para matuloy<\/em>\u00a0ang election, (But if the institution calls for it, to work full time to make sure that the election will push through), then that is a matter I have to accept,” the poll body official added.<\/p>\n

He said the en banc has to designate him to lead the Comelec in an acting capacity.<\/p>\n

“The en banc will have to designate me, but it could also be somebody else,” Lim added.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Commissioner Arthur Lim revealed that that their consensus is that the senior commissioner must be the one to temporarily take over as acting chairman.<\/p>\n

“Ang<\/em>\u00a0advantage ni Comm. Bot (referring to Commissioner Christian Robert Lim)\u00a0ay meron na siyang<\/em>\u00a0experience as acting chair nung nag-retire si Chairman (Sixto) Brillantes in 2015 (Comm. Bot has an advantage as he served as acting chair when Chairman Sixto Brillantes retired in 2015),” he added.<\/p>\n

Last week, the poll body’s six commissioners asked Bautista to take a leave of absence or resign in the midst of allegations of unexplained wealth hurled by his estranged wife Patricia Paz Bautista.<\/p>\n

For his part, the beleaguered Comelec chief had said that he is still contemplating on what action to take.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2014 Two top officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured that the poll body’s en banc will still function …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":100407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[21822,3716],"class_list":["post-114498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-bautista","tag-comelec","mauthors-ferdinand-patinio","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}