House says impeachment vs resigned poll chief moot and academic

House committee on justice chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / LYN RILLON

The impeachment case against Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista has been rendered moot and academic following Malacañang’s prompt acceptance of his resignation, the House of Representative committee on justice declared Tuesday.

The House committee on justice was supposed to deliberate on the articles of impeachment to be filed against Bautista on Wednesday morning but opted not to continue on with the proceedings following the latest Palace decision.

Only after the committee submits a report in the plenary can the impeachment bid be formally declared terminated, House justice committee chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali said.

READ: Duterte formally accepts Bautista’s resignation

House justice committee chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali thanked the President and the executive department for making a “swift and decisive” action in accepting Bautista’s resignation.

Umali, although calling the recent development “anti-climactic” for the committee, said Malacañang’s prompt acceptance of Bautista’s resignation was “some sort of good news” for the lower and upper house.

READ: Bautista officially steps down as Comelec chair

“It has ended well for the House and also for the Senate because this will really relieve of us of the many things to do,” Umali said.

Bautista’s estranged wife Patricia and her legal counsel Lorna Kapunan were present during the committee meeting.

Kapunan, during the meeting, said there was “no doubt that Bautista would have been impeached.”

Bautista’s bank accounts as pieces of evidence, according to Kapunan, prove that there were basis and substance in the allegations of plunder against the former chairman.

“Right now, we’ve leveled the playing field. He now cannot hide under the immunity. He will be sued at the proper time as private citizen Andy Bautista,” Kapunan said.

The complainants former Negros Oriental 1st Dist. Rep. Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio also came to the meeting, wearing peach ribbons symbolizing Bautista’s impeachment.

Last Oct. 11, House lawmakers, voting 137-75 with two abstentions, impeached Bautista a few hours after he announced his resignation effective by year end.

But on Monday, Bautista said he had received a letter from Malacañang indicating that the President has already accepted his resignation effective immediately. /jpv