MANILA, Philippines – A Commission on Elections official on Sunday said chairman Juan Andres Bautista should foot the bill for expenses being claimed by a mall developer for a scrapped plan to hold polls in malls since he was the only one to sign the memorandum of agreement on that.
According to reports, Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), which runs malls where voters registration was held least year, is asking the poll body to pay around P1 million for its expenses in preparation for the planned voting in malls.
Bautisa and RLC president Frederick Go signed the memorandum of agreement to hold voting in 20 Robinsons malls.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon however stressed Bautista did that without authorization from the Comelec en banc.
“Ako, I will not vote to pay that. ‘Di kami sumangayon sa mall voting… Personal liability niya (Bautista) iyan. Wala po kaming (Comelec en banc) paki-alam diyan,” Guanzon said in a phone interview over radio dzBB on Sunday.
“Kung kayo, ibang tao nag-kontrata, ikaw ang pinagbabayad, papayag kayo?” she added.
Guanzon, who was in the Commission on Audit before being appointed poll commissioner, also dared Bautista to personally pay the liabilities to RLC since the poll body chief has reportedly said that the mall developer is not asking for too much. She said the Bautista did not have the authority to enter into the agreement in the first place, which makes all the expenses his accountability.
"O di bayaran na niya. Kasi ultra vires ‘yan eh... Ultra vires act. Ultra vires ‘yung ginawa niya. Wala siyang authority,” she said. Ultra vires is Latin for "beyond the powers", or without authorization.
Guanzon said she and two other commissioners, Arthur Lim and Luie Tito Guia voted against mall voting. She stressed that she had been against it from the start and she was the lone dissenter since September.
She said she is confident Bautista and RLC will settle the issue. “I’m sure they can work it out,” Guanzon said.
On April 27, the Comelec en banc scrapped a proposal to hold polls in malls as Bautista had proposed.