EXCLUSIVE: Is Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista worth ₱1B?

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) — All lies.

That's how Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista described allegations of his estranged wife, Patricia Bautista, in a controversy that has gone beyond a marital spat, prompting calls for a full-scale congressional investigation and even a possible impeachment.

"Yung sinasabi niya ngayon na ₱1.3 billion, kalokohan po iyan. Sinasabi ko sa inyo, sa tamang panahon at sa tamang lugar ay ipapaliwanag po ng aming pamilya kung ano ba talaga ang aming ari-arian," Bautista told CNN Philippines' Balitaan on Wednesday.

[Translation: The allegations about the ₱1.3 billion are rubbish. In the right time, my family will explain what we do own.]

The elections chief was reacting to claims he is worth more than a billion, and his wife claimed this was possibly ill-gotten.

"I found passbooks, properties that I have never heard of but belonged to Andy, found money, cash (that's) gift wrapped....I realized these things could actually be items of question, things that could get my children in trouble, me into trouble," Patricia told select members of the media, including CNN Philippines, last week.

Patricia said she has enough evidence to prove wrongdoing, and hinted at "corrupt, illegal or immoral actions (he) has done or currently doing."

"I don't know where her ₱1 billion is coming from. What I wanted to do ever since the start was to go through with her all of the accounts, all of the moneys, and I would tell her specifically which is mine and which are my siblings, which are my parents, etc etc. But she refused to do it," Bautista told CNN Philippines on Monday.

Speaking on CNN Philippines' The Source on Wednesday, Patricia's legal adviser and spokesperson Lorna Kapunan maintained they have a strong case against Bautista.

"Here is Patricia, she has the proof. She has passbook. If he alleges that they don't exist or they're fictitious, come on. The documents speak for themselves," she said.

So what do the documents show? CNN Philippines compared several documents on the case.

Where did the P1 billion come from?

Kapunan, in a document given to CNN Philippines, for the first time revealed details of how the ₱1 billion wealth of Bautista came to be. The document lists local and overseas properties, local and offshore accounts, and business interests.

His supposed total assets "discovered as of November 2016" are as follows:

The document does not state the breakdown of total amounts, and it's unclear which assets were legally acquired or allegedly ill-gotten.

Most of the assets in the document from Kapunan are also in the affidavit, which Patricia submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation on Aug. 1, 2017.

Patricia said Bautista has more than ₱335 million in local and foreign bank accounts, that supposedly were undeclared in the official's Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALN). She also claimed of the 14 properties Bautista owns, two were not in the SALN, including a property in San Francisco, California, USA.

His properties, Patricia added, were worth more than what was declared in the SALN.

RELATED: COMELEC chair accused of unexplained wealth by estranged wife

In the three submitted SALN of Bautista, covering the years 2015 to 2016, Bautista listed seven types of properties. These include three condominium units at the North Tower of One Shangri-La Place in Mandaluyong City, purchased on "personal loan/installment" in 2010, with a fair market value pegged at ₱24 million.

Bautista mentioned in his interview with CNN Philippines he sold two Shangri-La condominium units to Nilo Divina, managing partner of Divina Law.

In her affidavit, Patricia said, she discovered pages of what appeared to be commission sheets, dated 2015 to 2016, from Divina. The amounts varied and showed entries from clients such as Smartmatic, which supplied vote counting machines for the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections.

Other assets, business interests

Also in Bautista's SALN are properties in Ayala Westgrove, Greenfield Calamba, Pacific Plaza Towers and Meridien and The Suites in Fort Bonifacio, St. Francis Tower in Mandaluyong, and a house in Tanay, Rizal.

In his latest declaration, the properties had a current fair market value of ₱158.5 million. They were all acquired at ₱93.7 million.

In her affidavit, Patricia further listed Bautista's supposed investments overseas, which were not in the SALN, namely: Bauman Enterprises Limited in the British Virgin Islands, Mantova International Limited in Brunei, and Mega Achieve Inc. in the Caribbean.

CNN Philippines could not independently verify the companies listed in the affidavit, as a search online showed the companies are either not found or have different addresses from those stated in the document.

What Bautista did declare in his SALN was XMA Corp., a holding company in Quezon City that his family acquired in 2007, with a capital stock of ₱1.6 million.

The company's 2011 papers at the Securities and Exchange Commission show XMA is a business that acquires, purchases, and sells, and leases real estate properties.

The incorporators and directors are Andres S. Bautista, Angeles D. Bautista, Faustina D. Bautista, and Juan Andres D. Bautista, and Patricia C. Bautista. The COMELEC chief also sits as the company's treasurer or chief financial officer.

The company had no other submissions to the SEC after 2011.

As for his personal assets, there were small increases through the years, particularly for jewelry, shares of stocks, and bank deposits. His liabilities, however, have been climbing, with personal loans worth ₱29.5 million in May 2015, a 25-percent increase at ₱37 million in December 2015, and a 35-percent increase at ₱50 million in December 2016.

Overall, his net worth steadily grew from ₱163 million in May 2015, ₱170.3 million in December 2015, to ₱176.3 million in 2016. That's an eight-percent increase in his wealth since he assumed office.

CNN Philippines' Ella Hermonio contributed to this report.