For most of last week. I tried to stay away from commenting or weighing in on this controversy. I personally know Chairman Andy Bautista and have a lot of respect for him. I can be objective about the SALN issues but not about the personal ones. I am particularly concerned that Susan, Andy’s sister, a classmate from college, has been pulled into this controversy. She is a good person and I cannot see her being complicit in any wrongdoing.
At the same time, I will certainly not be a party to slut-shaming or attacking Tish Bautista. That would not be fair.
Most of all, this is very sad for the Bautista children. Already, their father has mentioned that one of them is being bullied in school. One wished there was a way the children can be sheltered from this. Certainly, the teachers and administrators of their school should be sensitive enough to make sure the impact on them is cushioned.
While reluctant at first, I have decided to speak out because the commentary in conventional and social media has not been very helpful. Like it or not, willing or reluctant, we are all witnesses to this unfolding spectacle where private and public issues are colliding. This column is an attempt to be constructive by untangling these issues.
First, I encourage everyone that have no business in the matters at stake to stay out of the marital and family troubles. Let Andy and Tish Bautista sort that out privately or in the proper judicial forums. Cases have been filed already and they should now litigate their claims.
My advice of course is that they should quickly settle to avoid further harm to their children. I am sure the family lawyers they have consulted have advised them on what lies before them if they stick to their current positions.
When I was teaching family law at the University of the Philippines College of Law, I used to show the movie The War of the Roses to my students to emphasize the importance of avoiding the purely legal approach in settling marital disputes. In that movie, the characters of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner fought over their house, a proxy of all their troubles, to the death. Nobody wants that to happen here.
Second, serious charges of alleged corruption have been thrown against Chairman Bautista, several bank officials, and the Divina law office. Documents have been exhibited. Tish Bautista has done her part. The authorities should take over now and conduct a full investigation.
The report of the NBI is the first step; after that the House Committee on Justice must take over if impeachment proceedings are in order. There are two to three grounds that might be relevant here: culpable violation of the Constitution for filing an inaccurate SALN, graft and corruption if bribery is proven, and betrayal of public trust as a catch-all. For now, there are only allegations. Evidence has been offered but those can be challenged. The Corona impeachment precedents will of course guide this process.
Third, I am surprised why this has become a yellow (anti-Duterte) vs DDS (pro-Duterte) fight and why the yellows has become Team Andy while the DDS have appropriated Team Tish. President Duterte has acted above board here, taken in fact a fatherly mantle. Even Chairman Andy attests to this.
I want to be assured that the 2016 elections was honest and clean. I can’t get why anyone would oppose that. There are no facts to back up the claims that Bong Bong Marcos is behind this controversy or that Leni Robredo is the ultimate target of Tish or whoever is backing her up.
When the Comelec decided to take the full automation of elections option, instead of the hybrid approach that advocates like former Commissioner Gus Lagman were advocating, it was inevitable that there would be clouds of doubt that would hover over close elections. The Smartmatic system is not transparent and assumes absolute integrity of our election officials. But such integrity unfortunately is now in question.
Fourth, the personal attacks against Chairman Andy and Tish Bautista are not warranted.
Andy, whom I know personally, is a good man, an excellent lawyer, and leader in the legal profession. He is a well-loved teacher in the Ateneo Law School and of other law schools. I personally like him and have only praise for his actions as a high-level official since 2010 when he was appointed to be Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and since 2015 when he became Chairman of Comelec. I would treat Chairman Bautista with respect and continue to look up to him until proven that he has betrayed our trust.
Tish, whom I have never met, seems also to be a strong, certainly articulate woman. I refuse to judge her. It upsets me that she is portrayed as an adulterer and greedy person. I can understand the hurt people close to Andy feel and I can live with that. But what I cannot understand is why people who were/are so upset when Leni, Leila, and Risa were/are attacked as women are now also doing the same to Tish. Of course, I have seen the same people do that to Mocha, Honeylet, and Kitty as well.
The hypocrisy rankles, to be frank. Misogyny is always misogyny and political views should not matter in rejecting this kind of attacks.
I would caution the lawyers and spokespersons on both sides to be more circumspect. Going for the jugular might be tempting but would you really want blood (I am speaking metaphorically) shed here. Martin Loon, one of Tish’s lawyers, was my student in UP Law. He is an intelligent lawyer and also a fair man. I hope he can perform his duties in this case with both competence and compassion.
Fifth, and finally, being a parent myself and having done things also I am not proud of, I will not judge Andy and Tish in their actions. I assume that they are doing the best for their children. I know that both parents are conscientious and devoted to their sons. I will not make fun of their statements and professions of love. I believe them.
But one story I would like to share with Andy and Tish is that of Solomon and the two mothers fighting over an infant. When Solomon, in all his wisdom, ruled that the infant should just be killed and cut into two, the real mother motivated only by love yielded. And Solomon, as we know, gave the child to that mother.
To my friend Andy and to his wife Tish, in the days to come, I will pray very hard for both of you to be gifted with wisdom so that you can discern what unconditional love for your children means at this time and thus make decisions consistent with such wisdom and love.
Tish mentioned in one of her interviews that both Andy and her, and their sons, have been formed by their school to be persons for others. Having studied also under the Jesuits, I have always felt that meant first of all to be persons for each other in your family. If you can’t be kind to those closest to you, how can you be a good neighbor and citizen?
For sure, lowering the decibels of their public statements would be a step in the right direction. Perhaps, hard decisions by both of them – by Andy with regards to holding on in his position, by Tish on her demands regarding the settlement – might also be something both parents would consider.
Solomonic wisdom and unconditional love, this will be the salvation of the Bautistas. Let’s help them get there and we can do that by giving them the privacy they need.
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