Poll chief Bautista: Dismissal of impeach rap a ‘significant step’ in clearing my name

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Andres Bautista on Wednesday welcomed the dismissal of the impeachment complaint filed against him before the House of Representatives, taking the development as a "significant step" towards clearing his name.

In a statement, Bautista thanked the House justice committee for "upholding the rule of law and for their objectivity and fairness" when it junked the complaint for being insufficient in form.

"This proves to be a significant step in clearing my name after the malicious accusations hurled against me. As I have always maintained, the allegations are fabricated and baseless," he said.

With the dismissal of the complaint, Bautista said it would be "business as usual" at the poll body even as his colleagues in the seven-man Comelec en banc had already asked him to resign or take a leave of absence due to the controversy hounding him and his leadership.

"We, at the Comelec, will continue to perform our mandate in respect of the credible conduct of the Philippine elections," he said.

Former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio filed the impeachment complaint against Bautista on August 23.

The complainants accused Bautista of betrayal of public trust due to his failure to address the hacking of the Comelec website in March 2016 and for allegedly failing to properly disclose his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

Bautista also allegedly betrayed public trust for admitting that he had received referral fees from the Comelec's technology provider Smartmatic through the Divina Law Office, and for obstructing justice in saying that, pending investigation, the script tweak of the transparency server during the 2016 elections was "merely cosmetic." — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News