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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
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MANILA – Chairman Andres Bautista was set to leave the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Dec. 31 yet but his remaining days in office were cut short.
On Monday Bautista received a letter from Malacañang saying President Rodrigo Duterte wanted his immediate resignation.
Yesterday the commission appointed Commissioner Christian Robert Lim as acting chairman to replace Bautista.
Commissioners present in an en banc meeting unanimously chose Lim, Comelec spokesperson James Martinez said.
“With Commissioner Lim, you’re looking at a man who has a wealth of experience in managing elections and also the seniority to carry the day,” Jimenez told the press.
Lim, who was set to retire in February next year, is the most senior commissioner based on the length of stay at the Comelec. Then President Benigno Aquino III appointed him to the poll body in April 2011.
This was the second time that Lim was appointed acting chairman. The first was in January 2015 to replace the retiring Sixto Brillantes Jr.
Duterte has accepted Bautista’s resignation “effective immediately,” the Oct. 23 letter signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea stated.
Bautista tendered his resignation on Oct. 11, citing the need to attend to his family’s needs.
On the same day, the House of Representatives voted 137-75-2 to impeach him.
But Congress dropped the impeachment trial for being “moot and academic.”
Bautista was embroiled in a controversy regarding his wealth when wife Patricia accused him of not disclosing bank and real property documents in his 2016 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
The estranged wife also alleged that Bautista “might have had, or currently has, misdealing and corrupt practices while in government service.”
Bautista denied the allegations, saying some people were just using his wife to push for their political agenda./PN
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