UST dean mentioned by Comelec chief's wife in exposé taking legal actions

A University of Santo Tomas (UST) dean on Monday vowed to take legal action after being dragged into the ill-gotten wealth allegations involving Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista.

"We are not making any comments for now,  but we are taking legal actions. We will let you know right away once filed," UST Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina told GMA News Online.

Divina, however, did not say whether the legal actions would be solely against Bautista's estranged wife, Patricia, who disclosed the Comelec chief's alleged unexplained wealth.

Patricia said that she found bank and real property documents in the name of her husband and his relatives that were not reflected in his 2016 Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) amounting to nearly P1 billion.

Apart from undeclared assets, Patricia also claimed to have found "several checks and commission sheets" issued by Divina, who owns a law firm in Makati City, in Bautista's name and his family members.

Patricia said Divina is one of the best friends of her husband and godfather to their eldest son Xavier.

"Based on the documents I found, Nilo issued several checks in Andy's name and that of his family members, as Andy's commission for the law firm's clients with the Comelec," she said in her affidavit submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on August 1.

"What made me highly suspicious is that Nilo's law firm has been handling, among others, government clients such as BASECO (Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Co. Inc.) and UCPB (United Coconut Planters Bank), two government entities that Andy constantly dealt with while he was the PCGG (Presidential Commission on Good Government) chairman," the affidavit stated.

Bautista used to head the PCGG, which is tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of late President Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies, before he was appointed Comelec chairman by then-President Benigno Aquino III in 2015.

"I created an impression, based on the breakdown sheets and checks I found that Andy was getting commissions, while he was/is in active government service," Patricia said.

She said she was "completely shocked and surprised" with her discoveries about Bautista's alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"He has always been frugal in his spending, to say the least, so to find all this is absolutely shocking," Patricia said.

She added: "I understand that Andy, being a high ranking public official, should be accountable and transparent to the public about all these finances, properties and money which, obviously, he was not."

Bautista confirmed in a press conference that Divina is his friend.

"Kaibigan ko po si Atty. Nilo Divina. Matagal ko na siyang kaibigan dahil siya ang dekano ng UST Faculty of Civil Law at ako naman ang naging dekano FEU [Far Eastern University] kaya dun kami naging magkaibigan," the Comelec chief said.

Bautista was not asked about the alleged payoffs.

He also said he was not aware about reports that the Divina Law, which was founded by the UST dean, handled election-related concerns of the former ruling Liberal Party in the 2016 polls.

"Wala silang (Divina Law) kaso. They do not represent any protestant or protestee here in Comelec," Bautista said. —ALG, GMA News