(Eagle News) — The House Justice committee on Wednesday (Sept 20) declared the impeachment complaint filed against Commission on Elections chair Andres Bautista “insufficient in form” dismissing altogether the impeachment complaint against the embattled poll chair.
House committee justice chair Rep. Reynaldo Umali made the declaration after the panel junked Rep. Gwen Garcia’s motion to declare the complaint filed by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio, Manuelito Luna and former Rep. Jacinto Paras on Aug. 23 sufficient in form with a vote of 2-26.
Garcia and Akbayan Rep. Harry Roque were the only lawmakers who voted to declare the impeachment complaint against Bautista “sufficient in form.”
Umali said that with the ruling, this rendered the impeachment complaint against Bautista “dismissed.”
The lawmakers dismissed Garcia’s motion after the lawmakers rejected the admission of the substitute verification form of the complaint.
House Deputy Leader Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Farinas also noted that it is Patricia Bautista, Bautista’s estranged wife, who should have filed the impeachment complaint against the COMELEC chair since she had supposed “personal knowledge” of the allegations of ill-gotten wealth that form the basis of the complaint against him.
Other lawmakers cited the panel’s ruling on the impeachment complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, noting that that would be the only time that the House would be liberal in determining the sufficiency in form of an impeachment complaint.
Alejano’s complaint had a deficient verification, but was still considered sufficient in form by the House committee on justice.
It was then dismissed for being insufficient in substance later.
Correct deficiency
Immediately, Garcia, one of the lawmakers who endorsed the complaint, said they would move that the impeachment complaint “be now returned to the secretary general within three session days, with the written declaration of insufficiency” so that they can correct the deficiency in the complaint’s verification sheet.
The complaint filed by Paras, Topacio and Luna was over Bautista’s alleged betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for failure to declare his true wealth in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), and graft and corruption over the supposed receipt of commissions from Divina Law Offices, the legal counsel of Smartmatic, a Venezuelan election technology supplier.
Smartmatic is also COMELEC’s biggest contractor in the elections.
