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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Justice Sabio sues bizman in P10-M bribe try
MANILA -- Suspended Appellate Justice Jose Sabio Jr. charged on Tuesday businessman Francis de Borja for attempting to bribe him of P10-million for his inhibition from the Meralco case.
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) preliminary investigation on the alleged bribery attempt is an offshoot of the Supreme Court's (SC) administrative investigation on the handling of the Meralco case.
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The administrative investigation conducted by the SC's three-man panel, chaired by retired Justice Carolina Grino-Aquino, earlier resolved to fire Associate Justice Vicente Roxas and suspend Sabio for two months over findings of improprieties.
The investigation stemmed from the corporate dispute between Meralco and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Speaking before the DOJ panel investigating the alleged bribery, Sabio reaffirmed and sworn the same affidavit that he executed before the panel.
"I am pursuing this case if only to prove to all and sundry that (the bribe offer) was not a figment of my imagination, that what transpired was an attempt to bribe me," he told the panel.
He said de Borja first called him up on July 1, or a few days after he was assigned as acting chairman of the Special Ninth Division that will handle the case.
During that phone conversation, Sabio said de Borja had been pestering him to relinquish his chairmanship of the division to give way to its regular chairman, Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who was then returning from his leave of absence.
"He (de Borja) was pestering me with text messages telling me to meet with him. He said that I should accept the money since there was nothing heinous about what they were asking me to do, I will only have to relinquish the chairmanship. But I said no," he said.
On July 3, Sabio decided to call up de Borja to stop bothering him and that he has no time to meet up with him. However, the justice said de Borja was insistent, until he finally agreed to meet with him right after his classes at the Ateneo Law School where he was teaching ethics.
Although not stating it in his affidavit, Sabio said he now recalled that at the time of their meeting, the businessman was carrying with him a medium-sized brown bag, which may have contained the money being offered to him.
However, Sabio said he was not able to save de Borja's text messages in his cellular phone, but instead asked that the text message of his daughter be considered as evidence.
The saved message was the response of his daughter to his text message informing her of the alleged bribe offer and his decision not to accept it.
Sabio's lawyer Vicente Chuidian informed the panel that they intended to file a motion to expand the scope or coverage of the panel's probe to include de Borja's alleged co-conspirators.
Without mentioning names, Chuidian said common sense would dictate that de Borja, who at first glance has no stake in Meralco, is not working on his own and that he was likely prompted by some forces who has the financial capability to give out P10-million bribe to a justice.
"I have no personal knowledge about the bribe offer, but I guess the panel will have to investigate deeper. What or who are the logical sources of the money? Who will likely make the offer," he said.
But panel chairperson Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda said it would appear that the SC had believed Sabio's version and it intended the DOJ to prosecute de Borja. He, however, vowed to rule on the case based on the evidence presented.
Asked if Meralco chairman Manuel Lopez, whom de Borja allegedly named as source of the money, will be summoned during the hearing, Pineda said he is a "stranger to the bribery case, unless he is presented as a defense witness by de Borja."
At the end of the hearing, Pineda said a subpoena would be issued to de Borja and Sabio's daughter, lawyer Sylvia Jo Sabio, who is working as legal researcher in the office of Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
The subpoena was for them to appear on the next hearing on Friday at 10 p.m. Another subpoena will also be issued for witness Evelyn Clavano to appear to testify whether de Borja indeed called him up to ask for Justice Sabio's phone number.
Justice Sabio came out in public for the first time since the panel meted a two-month suspension for simple misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a justice by having an "unusual" interest in the Meralco case, indicating that he may have actually been influenced by his brother, PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio, and for discussing the case with him and de Borja.
He earlier admitted that Camilo had called him up twice "to help GSIS," something that he maintained there was nothing wrong about.
In an interview with reporters prior to the hearing, Justice Sabio belittled the impending disbarment case looming over his brother for trying to influence him on the case.
He added that the media was working against him, and this was the handiwork of the two PR firms hired by Meralco to discredit him.
"It's already established that de Borja tried to bribe me. These are squid tactics to bury the whole issue of corruption, let's not cloud the issue. What's so wrong about my brother calling me?" he insisted.
He said he is not yet sure if he will file a motion for reconsideration of the SC's per curiam decision that meted him the two-month suspension.
Aside from Justice Sabio, the SC also ordered the dismissal of Associate Justice Vicente Roxas, ponente of the controversial July 23 decision granting the Meralco petition to deny the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the jurisdiction to board election complaint filed by GSIS in its bid to gain control over Meralco.
The SC severely reprimanded CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr. for his indecisiveness; Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes meted with a reprimand; while Associate Justice Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal was admonished by the SC to be more circumspect in the discharge of her judicial functions.
The high court likewise referred to the Bar Confidant the actions of Camilo Sabio of influencing the judgment of a member of the judiciary in a pending case. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (September 17, 2008 issue)
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