Former PCGG faces graft charges

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MANILA – Former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Camilo Sabio is facing graft charges filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly using his magistrate brother during the scandalous Meralco-GSIS issue in 2008.

In the resolution, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales found proposal cause against Sabio for allegedly violating Section 3(a) of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and Article 243 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Sabio allegedly called his younger brother, then Associate Justice Jose L. Sabio Jr., to side with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in the case its filed against Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

According to the Ombudsman, Chairman Sabio got a call from GSIS Board Member Atty. Jesus Santos who informed him that the Meralco-GSIS case was given to the division of his brother. Santos supposedly requested his intervention and convince his brother to rule in favor of GSIS.

The case surfaced after a complaint was filed against the proxy votes in Meralco at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The power firm said that GSIS was trying to take over its board.

Under Section 3(a) of the Anti-Graft Law, it states that public officers are discouraged from “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.”

Meanwhile, Article 243 of the RPC punishes any “executive officer who shall address any order or suggestion to any judicial authority with respect to any case or business coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice.”

Justice Sabio was not included in the case given that there are no records that show that he had been influenced. He died in 2012.