THE House minority bloc called on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos to resign, saying it is his best option in the face of an imminent impeachment complaint against him.

"If he has any sense of decency left, he should resign now. The earlier he faces trial for committing bribery, the better for the entire nation," said Akbayan party list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

Hontiveros said the confirmation of Higher Education chair Romulo Neri yesterday at the Senate hearing on the broadband deal that Abalos tried to bribe him is enough to pin down the Comelec chairman for brokering the deal.

"We hope he already prepared his resignation letter. He doesn’t deserve to stay in public office, not even a minute longer," said Hontiveros.

Bayan Muna party list Rep. Teddy Casiño said the minority bloc will push for Abalos’ impeachment for bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

"Congress now has enough basis to impeach Abalos. It is the political will to do it that is now needed," Casiño said in a statement.

But Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, spokesman of the minority bloc, said they would still have to further study the chances of filing a complaint against Abalos.

"In my view, we are still in an ‘It’s his word against my word’ situation although now, two witnesses, Neri and Jose de Venecia III, testified that Abalos had offered them a bribe," he said.

The Makati Business Club (MBC) also called on Abalos to resign.

"We are asking Chairman Abalos to immediately resign if he has an ounce of delicadeza. Obviously, there are criminal implications when he made the bribe offer," MBC executive director Alberto Lim said.

Lim said Abalos should not wait to be impeached to spare the poll body from controversies.

"We have been calling on him to resign ever since the 2004 Hello Garci scandal, the multi-billion peso Mega-Pacific deal, the case of Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol, and now. It seems that he is a bit hard-headed," Lim said. – With Ashzel Hachero