{"id":124471,"date":"2017-10-17T02:28:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=124471"},"modified":"2017-10-17T02:28:18","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T06:28:18","slug":"comelec-chiefs-resignation-letter-to-president-not-proper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/17\/comelec-chiefs-resignation-letter-to-president-not-proper\/","title":{"rendered":"Comelec chief\u2019s resignation letter to President \u2018not proper\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Sen. Panfilo Lacson (Photo By Robert Vi\u00f1as \/ Malaca\u00f1ang Photo Bureau – Presidential Communications Operations Office, Public Domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday questioned the move of Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Andres Bautista to submit his resignation to President Rodrigo Duterte saying he should have submitted his resignation to the Comelec en banc.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a lawyer but I don\u2019t think it is even proper to submit Chairman Bautista\u2019s resignation to the president,\u201d Lacson said in a radio interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cComelec is a constitutional body and I asked some lawyers about this. I think the proper way to do it is to submit his resignation to the Comelec en banc,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In an October 13 television interview, Duterte said he has accepted the resignation of Bautista as Comelec chair saying it would be better off if he resigned so that there would be no trouble.<\/p>\n

Bautista tendered his resignation effective December 31, 2017 – the same day the House of Representatives (HOR) announced their decision to impeach him.<\/p>\n

Lacson added that the Comelec chair was independent and not under the executive branch so it was not necessary for him to submit his resignation to the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would he submit it to the president? The president, while he is the appointing authority, Chairman Bautista is like any chairperson of any constitutional body…Independent,\u201d Lacson said.<\/p>\n

Although Bautista explained that this was to give the President time to appoint, Lacson said that Duterte could not appoint unless there was a vacancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut anong basis ng president mag-appoint kung nariyan pa siya? Mag-appoint ang president kung may vacancy<\/em>\u00a0(The president can only appoint if there\u2019s a vacancy). So I don\u2019t know,\u201d Lacson said.<\/p>\n

Lacson also felt that the House of Representatives rushed Bautista\u2019s impeachment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinadali ng HOR yung impeachment, overturning even the justice committee recommendation. Mukhang may dynamics, mukhang may usapan sila<\/em>\u00a0(The HOR rushed the impeachment, overturning even the justice committee recommendation. It seems like they have the dynamics, it seems like they agreed on something),\u201d Lacson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAko, kung ako mag-analyze, may nangyari in between mukhang may kasunduan si Chairman Bautista and HOR leadership, \u2018huwag ninyo ako impeach sa HOR, magre-resign na lang ako<\/em>\u00a0(The way I analyze it, there was an agreement between Chairman Bautista and the HOR leadership, \u2018Don\u2019t impeach me, I\u2019m going to resign instead,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Lacson said despite Bautista\u2019s resignation, his impeachment trial should continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as he\u2019s there, and the articles of impeachment is transmitted to the Senate, we will have to go through the process of the impeachment trial,\u201d Lacson said.<\/p>\n

President Duterte earlier said that Bautista\u2019s decision to resign meant that he has already \u201cremoved himself.\u201d\u00a0(PNA)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2014 Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday questioned the move of Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Andres Bautista to submit his …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":113645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[28197,16278],"class_list":["post-124471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-chairman-bautista","tag-senator-panfilo-lacson","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124471","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=124471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}