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COURT of
Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Jose Sabio Jr. has
admitted to the Supreme Court that his older brother
Camilo Sabio, chairman of the Presidential Commission on
Good Government (PCGG), had tried to persuade him to
rule in favor of the government’s bid to take a majority
stake in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) ownership
case.
Justice
Sabio appeared for the second time before the three-man
panel created by the High Court to investigate alleged
bribery and irregularities following the decision of the
CA’s Eighth Division that validated the proxy votes cast
in favor of the Lopez bloc in the Meralco case.
The
appellate justice confirmed the calls made by his
brother regarding the Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS) when he was questioned at Monday’s hearing
by lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre, counsel for Associate
Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who chairs the Eighth
Division.
Sabio
narrated that Camilo called him up on May 30 to tell him
he would be the acting chairman of the special Ninth
Division which will decide on the Meralco case. He was
reminded that an injunction was already being prepared
and he should not sign it.
Aguirre
asked the beleaguered justice: “How could your brother
know sooner than the raffle committee? Did you ask your
brother why he knew so soon that you would be the third
member of the Special Ninth Division?”
Justice
Sabio replied: “I already told you I do not know. Maybe
the walls have ears.” He said his brother tried to tell
him not to sign the petition for a temporary restraining
order (TRO) sought by the Lopez group, citing the
rightness of the GSIS position.
But
Justice Sabio said he insisted to the PCGG chief that he
would “vote according to [my] conscience”. He declined
to comment on whether the PCGG chief was lobbying for
the GSIS and the government to get a majority stake in
Meralco, saying: “I don’t know; why don’t you ask him?”
Sabio
said Camilo called again on July 23, asking why a
different division ruled on the Meralco case. He told
his brother that he was himself surprised that the
Special Ninth Division, where he was acting chairman,
had been disbanded to give way to the new Eighth
Division.
Sabio
also said his daughter, Atty. Sylvia Jo, who was working
in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato
Puno, suggested that he talk to the chief magistrate to
discuss the alleged P10-million bribe offer allegedly
made through businessman Francis Roa de Borja.
His
daughter transmitted his hand-written letter to Puno’s
office, but he was told not to see him anymore as the SC
might later be called to rule on the administrative
complaint.
Lawyer
Aguirre claimed that Sabio’s admission has put in
question his own credibility, while proving it was the
GSIS that was working so hard to get a favorable ruling
from the CA to the point of getting a public official
like a PCGG chairman to influence his brother, who was
supposed to be part of the division that will rule on
the Meralco case.
Sabio
will appear anew Tuesday before the panel, this time to
field questions from Rafael Armovit, lawyer of de Borja.
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