Senate panel wants ex-Comelec chief Andres Bautista arrested

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday asked to have former Commission on Elections chairman Andres Bautista arrested for repeatedly skipping the Senate inquiry into his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Escudero, who chairs the Senate committee on banks, said it was evident that Bautista, with his repeated absences despite the formal invitations sent to all his known addresses, did not want the inquiry to progress.

Bautista sent a letter addressed to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Escudero claiming he has not received the invitations, and asked that he instead answer the questions in writing as he was in the US.

“I understand from news reports that a subpoena has been issued because of my non-appearance in the hearing. In this regard, I respectfully ask that the subpoena be recalled since I never received the invitation,” part of his letter stated.

But Escudero described this as a “ruse” and had “no good faith in it.”

Yesterday was the third time the former poll chief failed to appear before the committee. He did not say when exactly he would return to the country.

“I have requested the Senate to issue a warrant for chairman Bautista so he can be arrested anytime when he arrives in the country. The committee is compelled to do this after his obvious defiance of the Senate orders,” Escudero said.

“Unless he expunges himself, and the only way he can is if he issues a waiver on bank secrecy together with his siblings who are his co-depositors,” Escudero said of the former poll chief, who is accused of hiding hundreds of millions of pesos in the Luzon Development Bank in violation of several laws, including the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

Bautista’s siblings, Susan Afan and Martin Bautista, were also invited to the hearings but both failed to show up. Afan wrote to the committee that she had prior commitments and asked to be excluded from those invited to the hearings for lack of knowledge about AMLA.

Escudero said if Bautista and his sibling do not want to attend, then they should execute waivers to open their bank accounts “if they really did not have anything to hide.”