(Eagle News) — Senator Francis Escudero said on Monday that he would recommend the lifting of the warrant of arrest against former Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista if he complied with one of two conditions.
“..Either mag-submit siya ng bank waiver or mag-submit ng detalyadong affidavit na sinasagot ang mga tanong laban sa kanya,” Escudero, chairman of the Senate banks, financial institutions and currencies committee, said he told Bautista’s lawyer, Anacleto Diaz.
He said Diaz went to his office to say he would personally represent the former chair.
According to Escudero, he expects Bautista to comply with any of the conditions before the panel resumes its hearing on March 19.
The Senate has ordered the arrest of Bautista after his repeated failure to attend the panel’s probe into the allegations of unexplained wealth against him.
In a letter to the committee, Bautista had said he has been outside the country since November last year to explore professional opportunities and to seek medical assistance.
But Escudero junked Bautista’s explanation, saying the Bureau of Immigration had records of him leaving the country in October 2017, but returning on November 1 of the same year.
He said the BI had no records of Bautista leaving the country after that.