Palace orders Bautista to resign “effective immediately” as Comelec chairman

October 23, 2017

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista said he his resignation was accepted by Malacanang "effective immediately".

In a press conference late Monday, Bautista told reporters he will be leaving immediately.

"The letter says my resignation is being accepted effective immediately. So the president has already spoken, and we should respect that," said Bautista. Bautista had said he would be staying until the end of the year.

Bautista said he received the letter from Malacañang around 2 p..m., after which he met with all Comelec senior officials for about half an hour.

As for the six COMELEC commissioners, he said he has yet to talk to them.

"I will not be attending the (regular) en banc meeting (tomorrow). Because it says effective immediately," Bautista said.

Bautista said he was not surprised by the response of the Office of the President as he expressed he was open to this scenario when he gave his resignation letter last October 11 to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

"It was already clear during the meeting with ES that whatever will be the decision of the President, I will respect it. So this is his response and we accept that," said the poll chief.

Bautista is facing an impeachment trial once Congress resumes on November 13, He said he is leaving it up to the House of Representatives to decide if his trial will push through since he was resigned from the government. DMS