Aguirre orders NBI to probe allegations of unexplained wealth vs. Comelec chief

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the claim of the wife of  Elections chairperson Andres Bautista that he has amassed nearly P1 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth.

On Monday, Aguirre issued Department Order 517 instructing the NBI to probe and possibly build a case based on Patricia Paz Bautista's affidavit executed before the NBI on August 1 that the Comelec chief failed to disclose "pertinent information" in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

The NBI probe would also determine whether Bautista violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act and other related laws.

Bautista said expressed willingness to face the probe.

"We will welcome any investigation," he said in a press conference.

Five days before she submitted her affidavit to the NBI, Mrs. Bautista met with President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang on July 26.

She told the President about the bank passbooks and other documents she has discovered detailing bank accounts and real estate properties in the name of her husband and some relatives.

Among these assets is a condominium unit in San Francisco, California which she was not aware of.

Mrs. Bautista said these were not included in the Comelec chairperson's SALN for 2016.

She added that her husband may be impeached should it be proven that the assets were ill-gotten while he is serving the government.

"In all honesty, I did not know what they [bank accounts and other assets] were," Mrs. Bautista said in a press conference, a video of which was uploaded by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Sunday.

"I got to a point where I realized that these things could be items of question; these could be things that could get my children [into] trouble, me into trouble."

She said she did not want people to think that she was "complicit" to her husband's possible illegal activities while in public office.

Bautista denied his estranged wife's allegations and accused her of attempting to extort money from him and having an affair.

He said all his assets have been reflected in his SALN and that he was able to accumulate them after working for years for law firms and private corporations.

"So kahit papaano naman, meron akong pinagkuhanan ng pera and I've been investing. Masasabi ko na lahat ng assets na nasa SALN yun po ang aming pag-aari," Bautista said.

The Comelec chair had a net worth of P176.3 million as of Dec. 31, 2016 based on his SALN, making him the richest among the heads of the five constitutional commissions in the government.

His 2016 SALN also showed that he has total assets of P241.8 million, composed of P158.5-million worth of real properties and P83.3-million worth of personal properties.

His liabilities, meanwhile, amounted to P65.5 million. — RSJ/ALG, GMA News