Impeachment complaint vs poll chief filed today

MANILA, Philippines - Embattled Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista has acquired assets beyond his income as a public official and is liable for the breach in voters’ data prior to the elections last year.

The impeachment complaint set to be filed before the House of Representatives today raises these main allegations as it seeks the removal of Bautista from his post for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.

The complaint to be filed by former Negros Oriental representative Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR from a source in the Department of Justice (DOJ), accused the poll chief of having hidden wealth as revealed by his estranged wife Patricia Paz.

It alleged that Bautista did not disclose about P1 billion in assets and properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2016 in violation of Article XI, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“It is very clear that respondent acquired these assets way beyond his income as a public official and this was not reported in his SALN. The presumption is that the income of a public official is only what he gets from his salary and allowances derived from his public office unless he discloses other sources of private income which he obviously has to declare in his SALN,” the complaint read.

“Failure to do so constitutes a violation of law and being an impeachable officer such as respondent, any violation of law or betrayal of public interest, inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of power, breach of official duty by malfeasance or misfeasance, cronyism, favoritism, etc. committed by such officer to the prejudice of public interest and which tend to bring the office into disrepute constitute betrayal of public trust,” it stressed.

Bautista had declared a P176.3-million total net worth in his 2016 SALN.

The complainants cited the affidavit and supporting documents submitted to the DOJ by Patricia showing that Bautista has 35 Luzon Development Bank (passbooks with a total balance of P329,220,962; a foreign currency account with Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. with $12,778.30 or P640,959.53 as of Aug. 4; an RCBC peso account with P257,931.60; an HSBC account with HK$948,358.97 (P6.10 million), a condominium unit in One Bonifacio High Street at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City and a condo unit in The District in San Francisco, California.

They likewise accused Bautista of having investments abroad “in the form of his interests in corporations and loan agreements” that were not declared in his SALN – Bauman Enterprises Ltd., a company established in the British Virgin Islands on Sept. 29, 2010; a trustee company that Bautista set up with Bank of Singapore; Mantova International Ltd., established in Brunei Darussalam on April 26, 2011; and Mega Achieve Inc., established in Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, on July 15, 2014. – With Sheila Crisostomo