Commission on Elections Chairman Andres “Andy” Bautista filed charges of grave coercion for qualified theft and robbery against his estranged wife Patricia Bautista, two days after she presented documents to the media alleging that her husband amassed PHP1 billion (USD20 million) in ill-gotten wealth.
He told the ABS-CBN News channel this morning that he filed the charges yesterday at the Taguig City prosecutors office. “The extortion is a form of grave threat and life threats,” he said.
Patricia, who said she had been wanting to separate from her husband since 2013, said she came forward because she wanted to “make a distinction between the ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ money that forms part of our conjugal property.”
She said she could not, however, make the distinction herself because her husband controls “most of if not all” of their finances.
The couple had met with President Rodrigo Duterte last month to seek help in sorting out their differences.
The National Bureau of Investigation has already begun its investigation into the wife’s allegations that his actual net worth is more than PHP1 billion, far higher than the PHP176 million (USD 3.5 million) recorded on his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth.
“All of these would be explained in due time, where these moneys are coming from. But why in media eh? Why are they doing this as a media play? Why don’t you file the necessary cases in the court?” the Comelec chair was quoted in the Inquirer.
with reports from ABS-CBN News
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