Patricia Bautista: A non-issue made an issue by her husband’s defenders.
(Photo source: ABS-CBN)
The most baffling thing about this latest circus surrounding revelations that Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Andres Bautista may have amassed a fortune through “unexplained” means is the muted — and, in some cases, even defensive — response of certain camps in the Opposition. The way the Opposition has rallied around Bautista is not without precedent. They behaved a similar way when the stink of allegations of electoral fraud wafted across the nation following the 2016 elections. Rather than checking for a fire upon seeing the smoke, the COMELEC leadership and its cheerleaders in the Liberal Party chose to deny the smoke itself.
At the very least, an investigation should have been conducted back then. Instead, whistle blowers who found suspicious patterns in the the way the results trickled in, highlighted breaches in security and control procedure in the way Smartmatic employees handled equipment, and did the math to determine the statistical significance of variances in the behaviour of polling samples versus actual numbers were vilified and even bullied into silence. Some campaigns even involved so-called “data scientists” from exclusive Catholic universities organising themselves into advocacy groups to shout down these whistle blowers — not through presentation of sound arguments or through presentation of counter-theses but through emotion-based partisan “activism”.
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In the case of the Bautista circus today, the issue is quite straightforward. There is his SALN and there are all these bank accounts and records of assets to his name with amounts and values to the tune of millions. There are two objectives in an investigation that may or may not be forthcoming: (1) determine if and why these assets revealed by his wife Mrs. Patricia Bautista are owned by Bautista, and (2) explain the variance between Bautista’s SALN and the sum total value of these assets.
Whether or not Mrs. Bautista is a “slut”, an “extortionist”, or an overall “bad” woman is not the issue here. And yet discussion focused on the character of Mrs. Bautista forms the core of not only the chatter being exchanged by the Opposition’s inbred clique of social media “influencers” but also the content of Chairman Bautista’s official statement on the matter. The fact is, there is sufficient evidence submitted to the authorities to do a proper scientific investigation into the matter. With all that evidence on the table, the character of the messengers involved become less important and even irrelevant.
Interestingly, comparisons between Bautista and the case of the late former Chief Justice Renato Corona were inevitable considering that both were accused of fundamentally the same thing — purported personal wealth that was not reported in the Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) that is required of all Philippine government officials. If Corona was investigated and an entire Senate “impeachment court” was convened in 2012 on the basis of the appallingly low-quality evidence presented at the time, surely there is sufficient basis to mount an investigation on the evidence presented by Mrs. Bautista which, arguably, is likely to be superior in quality to the evidence against Corona bandied around by Aquino’s minions in 2012.
The key point here is that every allegation of wrongdoing should be investigated — specially one that has ramifications as critical as this COMELEC scandal which, if the right dots are connected, could cast a vast shadow of doubt over an entire national election. It is quite suspect that the Opposition does not support such an investigation. By pretending, in the face of all this evidence begging to be investigated, that nothing wrong has been done, they contribute even more reason to doubt their ability to present themselves as a credible Opposition to President Rodrigo Duterte’s persistently popular administration.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
When Robredo started overtaking BBM in the counting all I can say then that only Soros could have figured it out never Angry Bird. Angry Bird only made it happened because of money. The Russians may have protected the Pied Piper from the South.
…from whom is that money coming from??? more or less 300,000.00 daily being deposited??? it’s clear plunder being committed. there’s more to hide.
The evidences of wrongdoing of Andres Bautista, the Chairman of the COMELEC are overwhelming and glaring.
The Philippine electoral process is now in the gutter. All those Senatorial candidates, who won are in question. Whether, they really won the election, fairly and squarely. The Fake Vice President Leni Robredo’s victory is already an Election Fraud…the whole thing stinks to high heaven !
It is up to us, the Thinking Filipinos, if we allow this wrongdoing to continue or not. We salute, Mrs. Bautista, for coming forward with such important evidences against , Andres Bautista.
The sources, of where he got the Funds, must be fully investigated. The Aquino Cojuangco political axis, the Liberal Party, the Naga Queen Leak, Leni Robredo, have already corrupted the whole electortal process.
Onward, we fight to right the wrongs in our country !
Soros had meddling in Ukraine and he did it again in the Philippines with the great help from amoral brilliant evil lawyers like Angry Bird !
Soros had been meddling.
And Filipinos had to wait for a more blatant evidence like this? There hasn’t been any tangible pressure from THE PEOPLE to assert their basic rights on fair election. The fraud isn’t going to fix itself given the political situation- the number of current “gov’t officials”, are in reality, working against the people.
I will have to disagree here. While it is important to investigate these claims the character of Mrs. Bautista is also important. Are we really supposed to believe that she was out of the loop while her husband amassed a fortune? Allegedly she wanted some of these millions! For the children of course. Seems she might be liable in this case. She had information and withheld it until she could use it as blackmail against her husband. And not even blackmail but as a simple way to destroy her husbands character and reputation. By all means investigate this guy but don’t think the wife is an innocent third party. “The key point here is that every allegation of wrongdoing should be investigated.” To withhold information of wrongdoing is a criminal act. Mrs. Bautista must be investigated as well as her husband. What did she know and when did she know it and why did she not come forward sooner?
@Philly Filipinoy, What bloody revolution are you talking about? Who will start the bloodbath? You ! hehehe !
You must be an idiot! How would you start a bloodbath? Try killing yourself first and maybe that is the bloodbath you are referring if and only if other Filipinos as idiot as you follow.
It is only when the Ruling and Opposing are baited or forced to kill each other like in February 22, 1986 that a possibility of a change in Philippine society will ever happen UNLESS there is a national referendum to replace the evil Cory Constitutitution with a rider on the return of death penalty on heinous crimes.
For now only a State sponsored extermination of hardened criminals and druglords advocated by DU30 is working for that cosmetic change but is negated by the smuggling of container vans of shabu at the customs. A Mrs Angry Bird expose is just an eye opening diversion for the Filipino People, but after that I bet it will be back to normal.
The key is changing the evil Cory Constitution and an overhaul of the legal education and profession.
I agree with you 100 %. There is always 2 sides of the coin. It is fair for both parties to be investigated knowing the wife have the information since Sept of 2016. What took her so long to reveal these questionable assets? 2nd another dispute is the share she claimed was only 260 K+ yet Andy just showed in documents almost 3 times of that amount. If infidelity exist here, then her credibility is in question. If her husband cannot trust, how can she be trusted by others? What is/are her real motives? The court will be the final answer.
@Ngek Ngek and salagintong bukid,
Yes, it’s better IF we want our government to replace the evil Cory 1987 Constitution with 1973 Constitution (as re-establishment) WITHOUT any amendment to glorify and admire Marcos forever and ever!
The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.
@d_forsaken, corruption thrives in our country not because of indifference but because of a flawed legal system and culture that allow the rich and influential criminal or wrongdoer get away without punishment.
Anything that threatens the destruction or removal of power from the power wielders or placing the specter of death in front of their doorsteps in always welcome because that effective prevents them from abusing their power.
It is for us reasonable non partisan apolitical citizens to always look for ways for this to happen. If we could devise a creative way for the ruling and opposing elite to kill each other without damage to the general population, then it would be nirvana for the country as a whole.
Is always welcome
No it wouldn’t. Filipinos are corrupt from the top to the bottom. How do you think politicians get to their positions in the first place? We all know how: handing out P500 notes to the ordinary corrupt citizen. Vote-trading requires a seller AND a buyer.
If you killed all the politicians, you’d instantly have those positions filled by a new bunch of politicians stuffing public money into their pockets.
But I doubt if writers and regular commenters or even benign O or Ilda would do that because they are spokespersons of particular interests.
It will be BETTEr IF BBM won the electoral protest to become VP, the pres to bring back 1973 Constitution without any amendment to glorify Marcos and sanitize Filipino history to bring back nationalism, Marcos Discipline AND New Society.
If you guys were accused of being pro-Marcos loyalist, I would be tagged as a Jew-Communist-Dilawan-Gay.
What Ngekngek quoted as saying,
“The only way to abolish the Commission on Human Rights withouteu violence or civil war is a referendum for the Filipino People to choose
to return to the 1973 Constititution
without Amendment 6 with a parliamentary government, the Cory Constitution or Duterte’s Federal Government whigh guarantee a BBL.”
“What makes you think that the 1973 Constitution without Amendment 6 is strict and authoritarian?”
“What kind of logic do you have that going back to the 1973 Constitution without Amendment 6 for DU30 to abuse is glorifying Marcos ?”
“The only way to abolish the Commission on Human Rights withouteu violence or civil war is a referendum for the Filipino People to choose
to return to the 1973 Constititution
without Amendment 6 with a parliamentary government, the Cory Constitution or Duterte’s Federal Government whigh guarantee a BBL.”