Bongbong spox dares Andy Bautista to make allegations vs. Marcoses in Philippines

The spokesman of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday dared former Commission on Elections chairman Andres Bautista to come home and make his allegations against the Marcoses in the country.

Attorney Vic Rodriguez made the remark after Bautista was asked on Twitter if the missing Picasso was the one on the wall of former First Lady Imelda Marcos' as captured on images of Marcos and son Sandro's visit after Eleksyon 2022.

Bautista had replied to the tweet with a thumb-up emoji and that, "This painting was also captured on #TheKingmaker."

The Kingmaker was a documentary on Imelda Marcos and the family of the late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"It's very easy to be agitating people, making allegation, making accusations when you are thousands of miles away from your motherland," Rodriguez said.

"I invite you Chairman Andy Bautista to come home if you're confident enough and make your allegations here in person and so that to be fair to the Filipino people we can also hold you accountable for the many misdeeds and allegations as to the conduct of the 2016 elections," he added.

Bautista previously led the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

The agency was created by then President Corazon Aquino in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his family, relatives, subordinates, and close associates.

Bautista, who is reportedly in the United States, was Comelec chairperson in 2016, when Marcos lost to then Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race.

On October 11, 2017, the House of Representative voted to impeach Bautista after he announced his resignation as Comelec chairman.

He was then accused of betrayal of public trust due to his failure to address the hacking of the Comelec website in March 2015 and for failing to properly disclose his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

The Marcos camp has not accepted defeat in the 2016 vice presidential race, insisting that the election then was marred with irregularities.

The Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed for lack of merit the election protest filed by Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo over the results of the 2016 race.

In 2014, government agents seized at least 15 paintings believed to be part of the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth from their ancestral home in San Juan City.

A Reuters report said among the artworks seized from an office and residences included a painting by Pablo Picasso.

Based on government estimates, Marcos, his family, and cronies amassed more than $10 billion in cash, jewelry, assets, stocks and works of art during the dictator's 20-year rule. -NB, GMA News