Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has a new acting chief after President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the immediate resignation of Andres Bautista.
Christian Robert Lim replaced Bautista through a unanimous vote in an en banc session of the six commissioners of the poll body on Tuesday, according to Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez, who made the announcement on his Twitter account. Lim was previously designated acting chairman when former Sixto Brillantes retired in 2015.
Duterte still has to appoint a new Comelec head when the post suddenly became vacant. Bautista, who had been impeached by the House of Representatives, had submitted his resignation letter to the President on October 11, but effective at the end of this year. He said this was to provide a transition period for his replacement.
With Bautista out of Comelec, the lower house on Tuesday also terminated the impeachment process against him. The House Committee on Justice declared the impeachment case “moot and academic.”
