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[av_heading heading=’ Impeach plaint vs Bautista no more, reps insist ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday, October 6, 2017
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MANILA – The House of Representatives justice committee affirmed yesterday its decision to dismiss the impeachment complaint filed against Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista.
Voting 26-2, the panel members approved the committee report and the accompanying resolution junking the complaint.
“Now be it resolved by the House of Representatives to dismiss the impeachment complaint filed by Jacinto Paras and Ferdinand Topacio against Andres Bautista for the reason that it is insufficient in form due to its defective verification,” read the resolution.
The committee report and the resolution will be transmitted to the plenary for approval, said committee chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali (Oriental Mindoro).
But if one-third of the 293 representatives votes to reverse the committee’s finding, the justice committee will have to convene again to draft the articles of impeachment and transmit them to the Senate for the trial.
Paras, a former Negros Oriental representative, and Topacio alleged that Bautista had hidden wealth beyond his income as a public official, as revealed by the Comelec chairman’s wife Patricia.
Bautista violated Article XI of the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when he did not disclose all of his assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, the complaint said.
The original verification of the complaint stated that the complainants “have caused the said complaint to be prepared and have read the contents thereof; and that the allegations therein are true of our own knowledge and belief on the basis of our reading and appreciation of documents and other records pertinent thereto.”
Anticrime crusader Dante Jimenez and lawyer Eligio Mallari made a similar mistake in the impeachment complaint they filed against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno which was eventually dismissed./PN
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