Comelec chief’s impeachment a farce, says predecessor

MANILA, Philippines — Describing the impeachment of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista as a farce, former Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes said the move was purely political.

“(It’s) a total farce. I am fully aware that the process of impeachment is both political and legal,” Brillantes said in a post on his Facebook account yesterday. 

In Bautista’s case, Brillantes said there was no doubt “it is totally, absolutely and purely political because all legal aspects were brushed aside.” 

Citing one reason, he said the House committee on justice had determined that the complaint itself was accompanied by a “deficient, defective, flawed and infirmed verification.” 

“On the basis of such flawed, defective, infirmed and deficient complaint verification, the House committee did not even bother to move to the second stage – the determination of sufficiency of substance,” Brillantes said.

He said the committee instantly ruled that the complaint was insufficient in form, even as those who prepared the same are lawyers of brilliant minds and even so with the congressmen-endorsers.

“With the insufficiency in form, Bautista neither appeared before the committee nor was he informed and furnished a copy of the charges against him,” Brillantes said. 

Despite this, the committee recommended the dismissal of the complaint and the report was submitted to the House plenary for appropriate action.

“One can readily realize that Chair Andy need not do anything except wait for the final action of the House plenary. There was no reason for him to go on leave or resign,” he said.

Brillantes said Bautista had “the decency to voluntarily offer to resign effective at the end of the year.” 

He advised Bautista not to heed the seeming demand for immediate resignation. 

“Let the House politicians work to prepare the articles for impeachment, nominate their prosecutors, secure a copy of the articles of impeachment so that you will know the specific charges where you were not given the opportunity before,” he said.

Brillantes said Bautista should allow the House to elevate the matter to the Senate and prepare for the trial. 

“Let the House and the Senate spend public money for the preparations for the impeachment trial and later ... much later decide whether to comply with your resignation effective end of the year or to fight it out all the way before the Senate,” he said.

House to pursue impeachment

Despite President Duterte’s statement that impeachment is no longer necessary as Bautista has resigned, House lawmakers will pursue the process against the Comelec chief.

On Friday, Duterte said he was surprised to learn that his allies in Congress impeached Bautista, noting he had received and accepted his resignation.

House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said the House would still transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.

Fariñas cited the impeachment rules, which provide that if the House – by a vote of one-third of its members – reverses a decision of the committee on justice to dismiss a complaint, the committee “shall forthwith prepare the articles of impeachment.”

“It is only the House that could change its vote and order the justice panel to stop working on the impeachment charges,” Fariñas said.

The chamber, he said, could do that when Congress resumes session on Nov. 13 after a month-long recess.

“It is unfortunate that Chairman Bautista did not formally inform the House of his alleged resignation. He was aware that the House was going to consider his impeachment case on Wednesday, but he chose to hold a press conference and allegedly submitted a resignation letter to the President,” he added.

The House was expected to sustain the justice committee dismissal of the case against Bautista. After all, the panel voted twice to throw out the complaint with only two members opposing the decision.

In a swift turn of events, things changed for the Comelec chief on Wednesday afternoon when Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez called a closed-door caucus in which Bautista’s impeachment was decided.

House sources told journalists that the chamber’s leaders were piqued by Bautista’s announcement of his resignation effective on Dec. 31, since they expected him to hand in an irrevocable resignation effective immediately.

They said the Comelec chief could still change his mind, prompting them to impeach him.

Minutes after the plenary vote, Alvarez said Bautista could still avoid a Senate trial if he would quit immediately.

The Speaker, who usually does not vote, voted to overturn the justice committee’s decision.

Some congressmen who attended the caucus and who did not want to be named told journalists that there was a “marching order from the Palace” to impeach Bautista.

Duterte denied this on Friday, saying he does not meddle with his allies in Congress, some of whom are also claiming that he has given them the go-signal to impeach Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman said Wednesday’s vote to oust Bautista was totally unnecessary given his resignation.

Lagman said the objective of an impeachment process is removal from office, which the Comelec chief preempted by quitting.

Other opposition lawmakers said the vote was a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

More time and public funds would be wasted if the Senate conducts a trial, they said. 

Senate leaders have said they have started preparing to try Bautista and possibly, Sereno.

No official notice

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said there has been no official communication from Malacañang about the President’s acceptance of Bautista’s resignation.

Sotto said if the President has accepted the resignation, the Senate should have been officially informed, so it will no longer convene as an impeachment court.

“As it is right now, the President’s statement was just in a media interview, which the Senate cannot treat as an official act,” sotto said.

He suggested that Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea send a letter, informing the senators of the President’s acceptance of Bautista’s resignation to make everything official. 

Once Bautista is deemed officially resigned, Sotto said that the impeachment process becomes moot.

Now that Bautista is impeached, the House will have to send the verified complaint against him to the Senate, which will then convene as an impeachment court to try his case.

The Senate has been preparing for the possibility of convening as an impeachment court in light of the House tackling two complaints, the other against Sereno.

Sotto said there is not much for the Senate to do in terms of preparation, since it has been through this process in the past.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon warned of delays in the approval of the 2018 budget and the comprehensive tax reform package should the impeachment trial push through.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III gave assurance the impeachment cases would not affect the legislative work of the Senate, noting trials could be conducted on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, which he said are non-session days. – With Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy