Bautista ready to quit earlier than Dec. 31

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista is ready to step down before Dec. 31 as members of the Senate and the House of Representatives said he would still undergo impeachment trial if he does not resign immediately and irrevocably.

Bautista told The STAR last night that he is just waiting for the official communication from Malacañang since President Duterte announced last week that he had accepted the resignation.

The Senate will wait for the actual resignation of Bautista before totally scrapping its preparations for his impeachment trial in the chamber, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said yesterday.

Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque also said Bautista must be tried by the Senate as an impeachment court if he does not resign before Dec. 31.

Sotto told dzBB the House would no longer transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate once Bautista is out of the Comelec because it will be useless.

Sotto said he would not want to waste public funds preparing for Bautista’s trial that in all likelihood would not push through.

Bautista said he went to the Palace last Tuesday and met with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. They came up with a “gentleman’s agreement” for him to resign by the end of the year.

Once a replacement for his position is chosen before Dec. 31, Bautista said he could leave his post.

He explained he did not resign immediately to give the President time to find a replacement and have a smooth and orderly transition within the poll body.

Bautista said a transition is very difficult, especially in his case because he was not given much time to prepare for the May 2016 general elections.

Bautista is also the chairman of the Association of Asian Election Authorities and he wants to prepare for the United Nations-sponsored Asian electoral management bodies’ meeting in the Philippines, with the Comelec as host.

The meeting will be held in Cebu from Dec. 4 to 6.

“I want to institutionalize professionalism in the bureaucracy in the turnover of functions just like in the private sector,” Bautista said.

He said that he is giving the Palace time to prepare the official communication with regard to his resignation.

In a radio interview earlier, Bautista said his replacement must be a lawyer with a lot of patience and management skills since the Comelec is a quasi-judicial body.

Bautista said his position also requires managing resources, logistics and warehousing as well as a background in information technology.

Bautista declined to submit a list when asked by Medialdea if he wanted to make a recommendation for his replacement so that the latter could tell the President.

“This job is difficult. You have to have patience,” Bautista said, adding that he intends to advise his successor on the things he or she needs to focus on.

Bautista’s successor will serve his unexpired term of over four years or until Feb. 2, 2022.

The House committee on justice had dismissed earlier the impeachment complaint filed by a private lawyer against Bautista but this was overturned by the plenary last week as the poll chief allegedly reneged on a secret agreement to immediately step down as soon as the complaint was dismissed by “post-dating” his resignation. 

 – With Delon Porcalla