Bautista says wife described alleged 3rd party as her ‘soulmate’

Friends or soulmates?

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista on Wednesday claimed that his estranged wife Patricia Paz Bautista herself had described the alleged third party in their 17-year marriage as her "soulmate."

"Let me begin the story sometime in 2010 and 2013, there was a rumor that came out that my wife is seeing another person. In fact, it's though that she has described this person as her soulmate," Bautista said in an interview on ANC.

"Now tell me, if you are with somebody and yet you are told that your spouse has already found another soulmate, how would you feel?" a visibly emotional Bautista added.

Mrs. Bautista had earlier denied the allegation that she was having a romantic relationship with another man.

The Philippine Star had identified the alleged "third party" as businessman Alvin Lim.

"We're friends, we're very good friends. We work together. So if you see pictures of us together, it's normal. We work together," Mrs. Bautista said.

Mrs. Bautista  said the rumor about her and Lim had been going around for a few years now.

"This is a rumor that was started by his [Lim's] ex-girlfriend Margarita Fores four, five years ago and it's still there. And I've never said anything because for me, what people think of me is not my business. It's up to them, right? I'm not going to convince anybody," she said.

Meanwhile, the poll chief said he was initially advised to sue her wife but opted not to for the sake of their children.

"At that point in time we have four boys, four very young boys who needed their parents. I was advised already to file charges. But I couldn't do it because of the boys, because I recognized that for these boys to grow up properly, they needed a mother and a father," Bautista said.

"So basically tinanggap ko 'yan kung ano mang dusa ang nadulot niyan sabi ko kailangan kong tinignan yung mas malaking kapakanan ng aking mga anak," he added.

Chairman Bautista said for the past two to three years, his wife had not been sleeping in their home most of the time.

"Nung aking 50th birthday, the irony is itong lalaking ito, pareho kami ng birthday. On my 50th birthday, she came to my party but she was silent the whole time. But you know what, she did not sleep in our house that night. And for the past two, three years, she has not been sleeping in our house three to four times a week," he said.

"So basically we are estranged and I don't know what kind of relationship they have. But all I know is that they see each other on a regular basis in a condominium in Salcedo 3," he added.

Mrs. Bautista earlier claimed discovering his husband's misdealings and corrupt practices, saying he has acquired unexplained wealth, an allegation repeatedly denied by the Comelec chief. He said his wife had just been attempting to extort money from him. — Marlly Rome C. Bondoc/MDM, GMA News