MANILA, Aug. 9 — Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Juan Andres Bautista has filed several charges against his estranged wife in connection with the latter’s accusation that he has unexplained wealth amounting to close to PHP1 billion.
The poll body chief noted that charges have been filed against Patricia Bautista at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office.
“We have filed cases for grave coercion, qualified theft, robbery, among others,” said Bautista in an interview over ANC
He did not give further details on the charges, when he was interviewed at the kick-off activity in connection with the start of the printing of official ballots at the National Printing Office (NPO) on Wednesday. But he confirmed that cases were filed after raising four fingers to indicate the number of cases.
Earlier, Bautista said that his wife had forcibly opened his cabinet and took documents, cash, ATMs, gift certificates, passbooks, financial reports, and iPad.
Likewise, he claimed that his wife is only looking to extort money from him as part of their settlement for their legal separation.
At the same time, Bautista admitted that the exchange of accusations in public was not good as he would like to protect their children from being dragged into the mess.
“Yun ngang aking isang anak, hindi na pumapasok dahil dito. Is the Universe taking care of them right now? It’s not fair to them. That’s the problem,” the poll body chief said in the television interview.
He also reiterated that all his assets and earnings were correctly declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) and that he had no undeclared wealth.
“I did not lie in my SALN. There are moneys in the name of my parents, siblings. All properties belonging to me are in my SALN,” said Bautista. (PNA)
