SEN. Francis Escudero on Monday asked the Senate to issue an arrest order against former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista, who again failed to attend the investigation on his alleged hidden wealth. Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, asked Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd to issue a warrant of arrest, saying Bautista “has clearly shown his attempt to stifle the proceedings.”“I have requested the Senate to issue a warrant for (former) chairman Bautista so he can be arrested anytime when he arrives in the country,” Escudero said. Asked whether he would sign the warrant of arrest for Bautista, Pimentel said, “I’ll talk to Chiz (Escudero) about what happened. When told that Bautista sent a letter asking the committee to send him the questions that senators want to ask and he would just send his reply “in writing,” Pimentel said, “kung ayaw nga ni chairman (Bautista), p’wede nga ‘yung warrant of arrest. (Well, if chairman Bautista is really defiant, then issuing a warrant of arrest is possible).”The panel issued a subpoena to Bautista last week after his failure to attend the probe on his possible violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

Source: Manila Times February 12, 2018 16:10 UTC