FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista is an extremely lucky man. He has been fending off one charge after another — mostly in connection with graft and corruption — since his embarrassing feud with his whistleblower of a wife, and has remained whole and unscathed.
While he was in Manila, Andy had to maintain his prim and proper mien, despite the highly incendiary nature of the charges and evidence bandied by his wife, along with statements of accounts from a relatively unknown bank in Southern Luzon owned by his friend’s family.
Why Bautista was able to flee the country without having to answer for charges of vote-rigging in conspiracy with service provider Smartmatic is still looking for a plausible explanation.
‘While both Bautista and the Smartmatic officials deny the charges, it is best that they face these complaints in court, whether in the US or here in Manila.’
Some political analysts who have sharp memories can hazard a guess, though. Remember that ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s candidacy for President in 2016 had an infirmity? That he substituted for Martin Diño who perhaps intended to run for president but by some stroke of confusion wrote in his certificate of candidacy that he was running for mayor of Pasay City? Well, Bautista called this out right after Duterte won in the counting, and vowed to take action as chairman of the Comelec. He did not do anything, as the whole nation was hopeful and ecstatic with the assumption to office of a new President who was promising a better life for all.
For Bautista’s silence and inaction, could it be that he was rewarded with no graft charges and thus, he was able to flee to the United States? The next time we saw Andy Bautista in public was in Las Vegas where he watched a fight of Manny Pacquiao.
This week, we received the news that Andy Bautista was indicted by a US federal grand jury in Florida on Thursday for allegedly taking bribes from Smartmatic, the country’s service provider of computerized elections.
Bautista, 60, faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
Three executives of the voting machine company were also indicted for their roles in an “alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections,” it said.
One of the three indicted executives is Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and Florida resident who is a co-founder of Smartmatic. The indictment alleges that between 2015 and 2018, Piñate, Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, and others “caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid” to Bautista.
Piñate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno are also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.
Bautista, who headed the Comelec from 2015 to 2017, awarded Smartmatic a $199-million contract to supply the Philippines with 94,000 voting machines for the 2016 presidential election.
While both Bautista and the Smartmatic officials deny the charges, it is best that they face these complaints in court, whether in the US or here in Manila.
