(Eagle News) — The Senate has ordered the arrest of former Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista.
Senator Francis Escudero said Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Jose Balajadia signed the warrant issued against the former COMELEC chair for his failure to attend Escudero’s committee hearings on Bautista’s alleged unexplained wealth, last Wednesday.
Escudero, the chair of the committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, said the warrants would be forwarded to Bautista’s residences.
Earlier, Escudero cited Bautista in contempt for his failure to attend three panel hearings, dismissing the former COMELEC chair’s excuse he was outside the country to look for job opportunities and to seek medical treatment.
Escudero had said Bautista was lying based on Bureau of Immigration records that showed he left the country in October 2017, and returned on November 1 of the same year.
The senator said there were no records of Bautista leaving the country after that.
Escudero had said he would lift the contempt citation if the former COMELEC chair issued a bank waiver that would allow the Senate panel to look into his accounts.
It was Bautista’s estranged wife, Patricia, who said the former COMELEC chair could have billions in undeclared wealth.