POLL CHIEF IMMUNE FROM LAWSUIT

Patricia Bautista to file charges vs. Comelec chief's 'cohorts'

The camp of Patricia Bautista is planning to file charges against "cohorts" of her estranged husband, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista, her lawyer said Wednesday.

"We cannot charge Chairman Andy until he is removed from office. But all those who conspired with him to hide the unexplained wealth not in his SALN [Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth] will be reported," Patricia's lawyer, Martin Loon, told GMA News Online.

The Comelec chief is immune from lawsuit and can only be removed from office by impeachment.

Loon bared the plan following Bautista's announcement that he had filed criminal complaints against his estranged wife before the Taguig City Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday.

Among the complaints filed against Patricia were qualified theft, extortion, robbery, and grave coercion.

"Mrs. Bautista has the truth on her side. All these are lawsuits meant to harass and silence her. God will protect her because the truth is on our side," Loon said.

He said they will file the appropriate counter charges against Bautista's alleged cohorts "at the proper time." He declined to name them.

Patricia had said that she found bank and real property documents in the name of her husband and his relatives that were not reflected in Bautista's 2016 SALN, where he declared a net worth of only P176.3 million.

Apart from undeclared assets and foreign investments, Patricia also claimed that Bautista had received commissions from Nilo Divina, managing partner of the DivinaLaw office, for "assisting the law firm's clients with the Comelec."

DivinaLaw is said to be the legal counsel of Smartmatic, a Venezuelan poll technology provider that bagged contracts for the implementation of the 2010, 2013 and 2016 national automated elections.

The DivinaLaw office, in response, said it will be filing libel charges against Patricia and all persons "who aided, abetted, assisted and conspired with her in weaving false stories against the firm."

Patricia's camp has shrugged off the impending libel suit. —ALG, GMA News