Bautista no-show in House hearing on barangay polls delay

Voters check their precinct numbers in this May 2016 file photo.
/INQUIRER.net

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson Andres Bautista won’t be attending the House of Representatives’ hearing on Monday on the proposal to postpone the 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

In a press conference on Monday, Cibac Rep. Sherwin Tugna, who chairs the House suffrage and electoral reforms committee, said Bautista has reached out to the committee and said he would be attending a public hearing in Davao on the barangay polls on Tuesday.

Bautista opted to attend the Davao hearing tomorrow due to the fate of the elections there in light of martial law imposition in Mindanao, Tugna said.

“Siya ay pupunta sa Davao dahil bukas merong official na public hearing tungkol nga sa kung sakaling itutuloy ba ang barangay at SK elections sa Mindanao considering na mayroong kasalalukuyang martial law sa Mindanao.” Tugna said.

(He will go to Davao because tomorrow, there will be an official public hearing on whether or not the barangay and SK elections in Mindanao will proceed considering Mindanao is currently under martial law.)

The lawmakers, however, disagreed that Bautista may just be avoiding the lower House.

Bautista faces ill-gotten wealth allegations from his estranged wife, which raised the possibility of impeachment against the Comelec chairperson. Impeachment proceedings originate from the lower House.

“Marital issues niya naman will not be the subject of the hearing this afternoon. Bakit naman siya iiwas (Why would he avoid it)?” Ako Bicol Alfredo Garbin Jr. said in the same press conference.