dirty linen, dirty elections?

natabunan nang bonggang bongga ang customs probe sa lower house kahapon, and not because faeldon the chief didn’t show up, rather because of a corruption bomb exploded by patricia cruz bautista, estranged wife of COMELEC chief andres bautista.

imagine.  tish accuses andy of undeclared unexplained hidden wealth in the hundreds of millions, if not a billion bucks php, and she has all sorts of official documents daw, including bank passbooks, to support her allegations.  read her affidavit here.

andy denies any wrongdoing, of course, he was rich na even before the PCGG and COMELEC gigs, but maybe not that rich?  because he’s disowning some of the bank deposits, some of the assets belongs daw to his parents and sibs, and some, he alleges, could have been faked.  he also says that tish has a long-time lover and the couple has a political agenda, omg.  to discredit the 2016 elections?

nabuhayan bigla ang bongbong camp  atbp. na feeling-cheated pa rin by…ummm….the yellow camp?  smartmatic?  COMELEC?  all of the above?  no wonder andy was always siding with smartmatic no matter what the controversy?  ooops not fair.  innocent until proven guilty.

andy says he’s the victim here, it’s all about money, tish is just greedy.  ang backstory ay, 2013  pa sila naghiwalay pero hindi magkasundo sa settlement of properties because daw tish has been demanding a large amount of money. 

say naman ng abogado ni tish, his client only wants what’s legally her due, that is, half of everything (legally acquired, of course).  but but but, it would seem that chairman andy doesn’t think she deserves that much.  during negotiations, ayon kay atty martin loon, chairman andy said “that his wife deserves zero.” 

ang tindi, di ba.  ang lupit, at ang talim ng hugot.

does she really deserve zero, as in, nothing?  surely not.  is he himself beyond reproach, if not at home, then at work?  we don’t know yet, but because of his very powerful position as COMELEC chief, we need to know whether he deserves our trust or not.

this is not merely a private marital spat but a public face-off between political camps that could have important ramifications.  chief andy should stop talking to the press and prepare his defense, seriously.  badmouthing tish isn’t winning him any pogi points.