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Tuesday, September 02, 2008
CA justices in bribery row asked to resign
MANILA –- The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Monday called for the resignation of all Court of Appeals (CA) justices involved in the bribery scandal and other irregularities related to the Meralco ownership case.
The three-man panel created by the Supreme Court (SC) tasked to investigate the actions of CA magistrates is expected to submit its recommendations to the high court on September 4, after which it will be taken up by SC justices in its regular en banc session next Tuesday.
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The panel started its marathon hearings on the propriety of the CA justices’ actions last August 7, but its original deadline of submission of report to the SC was pushed back until September 4 due to a number of other witnesses who took the stand.
SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the CA justices involved should be the ones to answer the IBP's calls for resignation. He said, however, that since the process has already started with the creation of the panel, it should be proper that the process be allowed to proceed.
"You can be sure that shortly thereafter, the Court will be coming out with its decision on the report and recommendation," he told reporters.
Marquez said that based on the hearings of the panels, it was quite apparent who among the CA justices have committed lapses, but the decision of the panel should not be second-guessed by the IBP.
In an advertisement in a national broadsheet, IBP national president Feliciano Bautista said the CA magistrates caught in the corporate row between the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Lopez bloc of Meralco have themselves immersed in allegations of corruption that "exposed a troubling divisiveness and a penchant for personal self-preservation that further erodes the image of what is considered to be the second-highest court in the land."
The statement on the corruption in the CA was signed by Bautista, IBP executive vice president Rogelio Vinluan, and eight of its governors.
"The IBP urgently calls on those CA members involved in the controversy to immediately and irrevocably submit their resignations, out of delicadeza and out of ultimate concern to salvage what is left of the integrity of the Court as an important national institution," the lawyers' group said.
The IBP said the voluntary resignation of involved magistrates is a "necessary sacrifice" that needs to be made by those whose names have been dragged in the scandal.
The group further said the CA justices involved in allegation of corruption have exposed a troubling divisiveness and a "penchant for personal self-preservation that further erodes the image of what is considered to be the second-highest court in the land."
Among the justices who are being investigated by the panel were Associate Justices Vicente Roxas, Jose Sabio Jr., Bienvenido Reyes, Apolinario Bruselas, Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal, and Conrado Vasquez Jr.
Roxas penned the controversial Meralco decision; while Reyes, chairman of the Eighth Division that handed out the ruling, got embroiled in the chairmanship row with Sabio, who insisted that it should be the Special Ninth Division, of which he was acting chairman, that should rule on it, along with Vidal and Roxas.
The case was originally raffled to the Ninth Division, with Roxas as ponente, Vidal as junior member and Reyes as chairman. Since Reyes was on official leave when the case was raffled to the division, Sabio was designated in another raffle as acting chairman of the Special Ninth Division, which granted the temporary restraining order (TRO) for the Lopezes.
When Reyes reported back to work, Sabio refused to relinquish the chairmanship. The matter, however, had been superseded by events when a mandatory reorganization at the CA ensued prompting the Eighth Division to rule on the Meralco case, with Roxas still the ponente.
The other members of the division were Roxas, Reyes as chairman and Bruselas as junior member.
Meanwhile, Roxas filed an "interpleader" petition with Vasquez to resolve the chairmanship row between Reyes and Sabio.
Roxas and Reyes alleged that this was because Vasquez himself had a stake at the GSIS because his two daughters, a sister, and a niece were working there and receiving huge compensation.
The situation was further compounded with Sabio's allegation that a Meralco executive had tried to bribe him with P10 million through an erstwhile friend, businessman Francis de Borja, in exchange for his inhibition from the case.
Sabio further admitted that his elder brother, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Camilo Sabio, had called him up twice to convince him to take up the position of GSIS. He said that he told his brother that he will vote according to his conscience. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (September 2, 2008 issue)
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