Monday, August 15, 2022
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns Lowdown by Jojo Robles

A deal with the devil

Jojo RoblesbyJojo Robles
October 13, 2017, 12:01 am
in Lowdown by Jojo Robles
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
72
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

It would have been quietly resolved away from the public eye. But Congress probably forgot that it was dealing with someone who, while he claimed to be quitting his post to save his children, has not been providing financial support for them for nearly a year now.

It turns out that Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista had really struck a deal with the House concerning the impeachment case filed against him: Bautista would resign, he would no longer be impeached and no one would be the wiser.

There would be no messy impeachment trial and Bautista and the congressmen would not have to be confronted with uncomfortable questions about the conduct of the elections last year. But it was not to be.

Bautista, who was given up to 4 p.m. Wednesday to make good his promise to resign, welshed on the agreement. Instead, he sent a resignation letter to Malacañang declaring that he would stay on until the end of the year, allegedly to give President Rodrigo Duterte time to find a suitable replacement and to ensure a smooth transition process at the election agency.

The House called an emergency caucus and retaliated by impeaching Bautista, rejecting the committee on justice report dismissing the complaint filed against him. Bautista’s plan to hang on for 10 more weeks—a timeframe crucial to the conduct of the next elections in 2019—was exposed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaint against Bautista, said the 137 congressmen who impeached the Comelec chairman saw through his ploy. Garcia went along with the dismissal by the House committee on justice—even if she still voted against it—upon being given the assurance by the House leadership that he would quit anyway.

But when Bautista reneged on the deal by “post-dating” his resignation to the end of the year, according to Garcia, “the lonely two [endorsers who voted to impeach him] increased to 137.” “What if after his prayers and discernment he would say I will not resign [by yearend]?” she asked.

“He thought he could take the congressmen for a ride with a very lame claim to resignation [but] the 137 saw through his game,” Garcia said. “Don’t mess with us; if you say something, do it.”

Garcia’s fellow endorser, Kabayan Party-List Rep. Harry Roque, imputed malice on Bautista’s part when he postponed the effectivity of his leaving. “Resignation is always an option for him, but he should not determine when,” Roque said.

Roque alleged that if the full House had upheld the committee report, Bautista would have become immune from impeachment for a year. “And if he changes his mind [by yearend], he would be free to sign [new] contracts” with Comelec’s voting technology and services provider Smartmatic for the 2019 midterm elections.

Roque added: “We don’t want to give him that chance again to sign contracts with Smartmatic.” The Venezuela-based technology provider has been repeatedly accused of rigging previous automated elections with the help of Comelec.

But I guess Congress is also to blame for making a deal with Bautista and forgetting that the public demands explanations from him about how he supervised the last elections. Now it has no choice but to bring a case against Bautista before the Senate impeachment court, when it had really wanted him to just resign and fade into obscurity, taking his secrets with him to the grave.

Bautista can still resign immediately and attempt to go back to the original plan. But I think that glob of toothpaste can’t be brought back into the tube anymore.

So no more deals with the devil. Let the truth-telling about Bautista’s—and Smartmatic’s—shenanigans begin.

* * *

Moving forward, President Rodrigo Duterte would be able clean up the Augean stables of the Comelec if he appoints a replacement for Bautista who is unwaveringly committed to the job. To my mind, that replacement should be the longtime crusader against electoral fraud—lawyer, IT expert and former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong.

Since the start of this country’s experimentation with election automation, Chong—who insists he was cheated out of his Congress post in 2010—has become the conscience of the poll body. His has been a mostly lonely battle against the evil syndicate that the poll agency and its automation provider Smartmatic have become.

In every forum that will have him as speaker and at every opportunity online, Chong has railed against how automation has actually made election cheating a lot easier in this country, where elections have long been decided by who has the most money to buy not only voters but also election administrators. Chong’s experience as a congressman and as an advocate for clean automated elections makes him an even better choice than Gina Lopez was to head up the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

I’m sure that now, with Bautista’s ouster or resignation already a fait accompli, Duterte is looking for a suitable replacement who will bring change to Comelec. The President could do a lot worse than to pick Chong for the job that seems tailor-made for him and that promises to permanently clean up the poll body.

Tags: A deal with the devilComelec Chairman Andres BautistaCommission on ElectionsGlenn ChongPresident Rodrigo Duterte
ADVERTISEMENT
Jojo Robles

Jojo Robles

Related Posts

Out for pizza

February 8, 2018, 12:01 am
0
148
Out for pizza

Vice President Leni Robredo, I fear, is not really interested in speeding up the recount of the votes cast in...

Read more

Not so fast

February 6, 2018, 12:09 am
0
135
Not so fast

First of all, the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital team of experts didn’t state that 14 children died as...

Read more

Duque feels the heat

February 1, 2018, 12:01 am
0
133
Duque feels the heat

If Health Secretary-designate Francisco Duque thinks that he can get confirmed if he just keeps his head down and stays...

Read more

Did Martin invent socmed?

January 31, 2018, 12:07 am
0
132
Did Martin invent socmed?

How quickly we forget. “Weaponizing” the Internet and social media for political purposes, especially by government communications officials using state...

Read more

Noynoy’s barricade

January 30, 2018, 12:01 am
0
138
Noynoy’s barricade

For once, I miss Cory Aquino.  Because Cory really went out of her way not to show in public the...

Read more

The Thomasian Way

January 26, 2018, 12:01 am
0
131
The Thomasian Way

Over at UST, they will virtually lynch you for having the “wrong” politics. But they will turn a blind eye,...

Read more

Stories you may like

  • People …are talking about Liza Soberano

    Supermodel son is Philippine bet in Manhunt International

    9905 shares
    Share 3962 Tweet 2476
  • Another oil price rollback likely as world economy further stalls

    1344 shares
    Share 538 Tweet 336
  • Judgments and their execution

    1271 shares
    Share 508 Tweet 318
  • Basilan solon wants barangay, SK polls reset to May 2024 to save P8b for gov’t

    980 shares
    Share 392 Tweet 245
  • Appeal to BBM and Acuzar

    947 shares
    Share 379 Tweet 237

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • SII PROPERTIES & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
  • SALCON PHILIPPINES INC.: Notice of Meeting
  • BTA unites ex-Moro rebels
  • Positivity rate in NCR declines, seen as COVID-19 has hit peak
  • BBM eyes sugar import of 150,000 MT by Oct.
  • DOTr, Chinese embassy agree to restart talks on rail projects
  • Dangerous waters
  • PH population: More seniors as few babies born

Advertisement

Latest News

DOTr, Chinese embassy agree to restart talks on rail projects

byManila Standard
August 15, 2022, 12:45 am
0
158
Sino gaming tycoon held for illegal ops

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Sunday it had agreed with the Chinese Embassy in Manila to restart negotiations for...

Read more

Dangerous waters

byDanny Pata
August 15, 2022, 12:43 am
0
134
Sino gaming tycoon held for illegal ops

A young boy assists a toddler in wading at the shoreline of Manila Bay near the Dolomite beach on Roxas...

Read more

PH population: More seniors as few babies born

byManila Standard
August 15, 2022, 12:40 am
0
174
WHO worried over 2.5 million Filipino seniors yet to receive jab

Filipinos are having fewer babies while the number of senior citizens has doubled in the last 20 years to account...

Read more

Author JK Rowling gets online threat

byAFP
August 15, 2022, 12:35 am
0
148
Sino gaming tycoon held for illegal ops

Scottish police said on Sunday they were investigating an apparent "online threat" made to Harry Potter author JK Rowling in...

Read more

OWWA to bring back ‘Hatid Saya’ for OFWs

byManila Standard
August 15, 2022, 12:30 am
0
155
Sino gaming tycoon held for illegal ops

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said Sunday it would revive the "Hatid Saya" entertainment program for Filipinos working abroad....

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App