(Eagle News) — Senator Tito Sotto is seeking an investigation into allegations of possible ill-gotten wealth made against Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista.
In Resolution No.456, Sotto directed the blue ribbon committee to look into the allegations made by Patricia Bautista that the Comelec chief might have amassed nearly P1 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth.
“The Commission on Elections, as a constitutional body, must not only be compliant with the laws ensuring honesty and integrity in the performance of government service, but also be above suspicion of any irregularity being the guardian of the Philippine electoral system,” he said.
He added there was a “need to determine if the present law is adequate enough to ensure compliance by all public officials (to) the required submission of the (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth).”
In her affidavit dated Aug. 1 and which was submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation, Patricia said she was revealing “certain information and documents that would show that Andy (Bautista’s nickname) might have had, or currently has, misdealing and corrupt practices while in government service.”
This was several days after she met with President Rodrigo Duterte and told him she had discovered several documents under her husband’s name and his relatives’ name that were also not included in his SALN for 2016.
The Comelec chair had declared a net worth of P176.3 million.
Among those she said he did not declare were 35 Luzon Development Bank (LDB) passbooks with a total balance of P329,220,962; a foreign currency account with Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) with $12,778.30, or P640,959.53; an RCBC peso account with P257,931.60; an HSBC account with HK$948,358.97 or P6.10 million; a condominium unit in One Bonifacio High Street at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City; and a condo unit in The District in San Francisco, California.
Of the 35 passbooks, she said one was in her name but that she can’t remember owning such.
She said she also discovered apparent business interests abroad “in the form of his interests in corporations and loan agreements” that were not declared in his SALN.
These included, according to her, interests in Bauman Enterprises Ltd., a company established in the British Virgin Islands on Sept. 29, 2010; in Mantova International Ltd., established in Brunei Darussalam on April 26, 2011; and in Mega Achieve Inc., put up in Anguilla, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, on July 15, 2014.
Patricia has filed a case for violation of the law against violence on women and children against the Comelec chief before the Taguig Prosecutor’s Office.
The Comelec head has denied the allegations.
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