JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II is set to order an investigation into the people or group believed to be behind the complaint against President Duterte and 11 senior government officials filed by lawyer Jude Jose Sabio before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Aguirre believes there are people behind the actions of Sabio—the lawyer of confessed hitman Edgar Matobato—which he described as an “effort to destabilize the Duterte administration”.
“Matobato, Sabio and whoever are behind them are out to destabilize the Duterte administration by discrediting it before the international community. I believe that somebody is behind them, because they will not be so brazen in their actions if there is no one holding the strings, purse strings included, behind the scenes. Ask them who is paying for their expenses in going to the ICC,” Aguirre said in a statement.
“Are these funders public officials at present? If yes, are they using public funds of their offices to undermine the government? If yes, they should be investigated and be made accountable. If, on the other hand, the funding is private, then it is still an act of destabilization. These destabilizers do not want the Filipino people to have a drug-free future. They hate it when the greater majority of our countrymen benefit from the many gains of the Duterte administration. To them and their kind, I say, bring it on!” Aguirre added.
For his part, Solicitor General Jose Calida, the government’s top lawyer, said he will initiate the filing of a disbarment charge against Sabio, for filing baseless suits.
He recalled that the Supreme Court sanctioned Sabio in 2008 for filing a groundless bribery charge against Judge Alden Cervantes, who was the presiding judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Cabuyao, Laguna, until his retirement in 2005.
The Court held that Sabio violated the proscription in the lawyers’ Code of Professional Responsibility against wittingly or willingly promoting or suing any groundless suit, including baseless administrative complaints against judges and other court officers and employees.
Sabio also ran for a Senate seat last year and lost.
“This perennial loser stubbornly refuses to heed the warning from the Supreme Court that if he commits the same infraction, he will be punished more severely. We will see him in court,” Calida said.
On April 24 a communication was filed by Sabio before the ICC in The Hague, the Netherlands, accusing Duterte and 11 other government officials of crimes against humanity.
“It appears that this lawyer is in the business of maliciously filing baseless suits based only on hearsay and unfounded suspicions,” Calida said.