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Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Panel formed to probe CA row
MANILA -- The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday created a three-man panel composed of retired justices to investigate alleged anomalies in the Court of Appeals (CA) controversial July 23 ruling on the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) case.
Heading the panel is retired SC associate justice Carolina Grino-Aquino, with associate justices Flerida Ruth Romero and Romeo Callejo as members. The report of the panel will then be submitted to the Office of the Court Administrator for appropriate action.
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SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the panel shall conduct a day-to-day hearing, which shall submit its report and recommendation not later than August 21.
"The fact that the case was immediately calendared and a special en banc session is called, that shows the urgency and importance of the matter," Marquez said.
During an en banc session, three SC justices inhibited themselves, namely, Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Antonio Carpio.
Puno inhibited himself from the hearing because his daughter is a staff worker at the office of CA Associate Justice Jose Sabio Jr., one of the protagonists in the controversy; Santiago, on the other hand, has a daughter who is working at Meralco; while Carpio used to be a partner in the Carpio Angangco Villaraza Marcelo Cruz law firm, which is now handling the Meralco case.
The CA referred the administrative matter to the SC on the propriety of the acts of the justices who rendered the assailed decision on Meralco and the alleged bribery attempt on one of the justices.
The anomaly in the Meralco ruling was first exposed by Associate Justice Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal, one of the members of the Special Former Ninth Division, which first took cognizance of the Meralco petition and issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Vidal complained that as member of the division that first handled the Meralco case, they should have been the same justices who will rule on the merits of the case. Sabio acted as chairman in that division, vis-à-vis the on-leave Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes.
The Meralco petition sought to stop the SEC from implementing its orders stopping the counting of proxy votes in favor of the Lopezes. GSIS, which owns a large percentage of Meralco's stocks, wants the SEC to invalidate the election due to the proxy votes.
When reorganization in the appellate court took place, Associate Justice Vicente Roxas, who was the designated ponente of the case, got reassigned to the Eighth Division. As per the internal rules of the CA, the case goes to the justice where it was first raffled, even if he has been reassigned to another division.
On July 23, the Eighth Division, through Roxas, ruled to grant Meralco's petition.
Sabio then challenged the division's ruling on the same ground, further alleging that he had been offered P10 million by an emissary of Meralco to inhibit himself from the case.
The emissary turned out to be Cagayan de Oro businessman Francis Roa De Borja, who issued an affidavit during a CA en banc session last July 31 denying the P10-million bribe and further alleging that Sabio's motive in questioning the ruling was the government's promise of a promotion to the SC and money.
De Borja claimed in his sworn statement that when he asked Sabio what it would take for him to reject the government offer, the CA justice answered: "P50 million."
Sabio, who got reassigned to the Sixth Division, also accused Roxas and Reyes of coming out with the decision without reading the memoranda. He further claimed that Reyes has an undue interest in the Meralco case. (ECV/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (August 5, 2008 issue)
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