House still full speed ahead for Bautista impeachment

The House of Representatives is drafting the Articles of Impeachment for a possible Senate trial of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista next month or after Congress’ month-long break on Nov. 13.

“My legal team is working on the Articles of Impeachment as we speak,” Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice, said.

The Articles of Impeachment would be the basis for the Senate’s taking up the case and subjecting Bautista to a trial.

The outgoing Comelec chief is facing impeachment for culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption.

In an impeachment court, the senators are the judges and the congressmen the prosecutors.

Bautista surprised the public when he suddenly resigned on Oct. 11 and got impeached on the same day by the House of Representatives.

House leaders said they decided to move for Bautista’s impeachment after the latter reneged on his promise to resign immediately and not by yearend as he had told President Duterte in his resignation letter.

Insiders say the poll chief promised to step down in exchange for the dismissal of his case.

By not stepping down immediately, Bautista said he was giving Duterte enough time to find his replacement.

The Chief Executive said, however, that it is up to Congress to decide on Bautista’s case.

Bautista’s estranged wife Patricia Cruz has accused him of having unexplained wealth amounting to P1.2 billion. Bautista had admitted his family co-owned his wealth.

House Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia lamented that Bautista made it appear that the impeachment complaint had been rendered moot and academic by his resignation.

“So at first, on face value, we’ll say that the impeachment process was useless at that point because he was already resigning. However, as I said, the resignation turned out to be postdated. It was dated Dec. 31,” she said in an interview over dzBB.

The complaint, filed by former Negros Oriental congressman Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, accuses Bautista of failing to declare properties and money in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, among many others.

Umali said his panel would conduct a case build-up to guarantee the conviction of Bautista in the Senate impeachment court.

“We will continue with the impeachment process for as long as he (Bautista) has not resigned from office,” Umali said.

Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque, who like Garcia was among the endorsers of the impeachment complaint, said Bautista should undergo trial because his resignation is not irrevocable.

“A revocable resignation effective at the end of the year is simply unacceptable as any time prior to Dec. 31, the resignation can still be revoked,” Roque said.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno is “not really worried” about the dip in her ratings as she is not a politician, her spokesperson said yesterday.

Winnie Salumbides, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, said the Chief Justice is not focused on survey results but noted that anybody subjected to mudslinging would get dirtied.

“In the first place kahit sinong tao, pag pinupukol ng putik, kahit sino natural na madudungisan (anyone smeared with mud would naturally get dirty). The Chief Justice is not so much focused on polls, ratings and surveys simply because she is not a politician. She is not seeking a term. She is not going to wage a campaign to make herself known to her electorates,” she said.

In the Pulse Asia September 2017 Ulat ng Bayan national survey, Sereno suffered twodigit drop in her approval and trust ratings.

Sereno’s public satisfaction rating dropped 13 points to 35 percent and her trust rating fell by 12 points to 31 percent.